The God-slayers
by DenshaKuro
Summary: Sally Jackson didn't survive after giving birth to Percy. Percy doesn't have anyone to go, but someone took an interest in Percy and eventually adopted him. Though unofficially. Thus a change in fate, under the tutelage of his adoptive father, he becomes a dark warrior where he slays evil gods, and eventually to ensure the downfall of the Olympians.
1. Change of fate

A man wearing a Hawaiian shirt looked woefully through the glass where his son lay asleep in a crib just hours after he was born. He clenched his tightly as he saw his son move slightly.

"Poseidon" someone called out from besides him.

"Zeus" he replied still his gaze on the baby. Poseidon choked back a sob "I couldn't do anything…"

"It wasn't your fault" His brother uncharacteristically comforted as he began to move his hand to Poseidon's shoulder. "The fates have…"

"Damn the fates!" Poseidon shouted as he slapped Zeus's hand away. The earth rumbled slightly but stopped as Poseidon didn't want his son to be awoken from his slumber. The younger of the two sighed lowly. If it was under normal circumstances, he would have retorted. Poseidon currently wasn't thinking straight seeing he'll go as far as cursing the fates. Seeing that his brother had calmed down a little he began to talk.

"What happens to the child now?" Zeus inquired. He moved closer to the window to get a good look at his nephew.

"I don't know" Poseidon answered. "Sally doesn't have any living relatives that are alive. At this rate, he'll be sent off to an orphanage"

"What about taking him in?" His bother suggested.

"No, Amphitrite would try to find a way to kill him, if not her then my son Triton"

Zeus nodded. He understands that no wife, god or mortal liked the son of a husband and a woman other than herself.

"Poseidon" Zeus called out "The others have already assembled. We need to leave"

Poseidon took one desperate look at his son. He couldn't care less about the meeting. He just wanted to stay here and look over his helpless son, but as one of the big three, he couldn't let emotions get in way of his duty as god. Zeus left in a spiral of wind leaving Poseidon alone with the baby.

"I'm so sorry Percy, my…" the word didn't leave his mouth. 'No I am not worthy of being father of a son whose mother I can't even protect'. With one sad glance at Percy, he disappeared in a wisp of mist, leaving behind a salty sea smell.

The room remained quiet for a moment before a figure appeared from the shadows of the darkened room.

"That was easy" He commented. He began walking to the crib which held the defenseless baby. His face couldn't be seen as the hood of his robe made a shadow that concealed his upper face. Though the two rooms were separated by a windowed wall, the dark figure walked through it like it was nothing. He stared at the baby for a while. "I thought with two gods inside here, that they'll sense me" He leaned closer to the baby. "I guess that I overestimated them a bit. Won't you say little Perseus" Of course the figure wouldn't expect the sleeping baby to reply. The man took a deep breath as a feral grin went across his face. "Such a shame, those pathetic gods didn't know what they're missing. You smell powerful, Perseus. Maybe I'll take you in. Would you like that?"

The man grabbed Percy and cradled him using both his hands with utmost care. "I'll be your daddy" The man rippled in the air and disappeared without a trace.

…

The meeting at mount Olympus was quiet. Never had a meeting where all the Olympians gathered went smoothly such as this. Maybe it was the deplorable aura that Poseidon was emanating. Everyone held solemn face, even Apollo. The silence went dead as a sphere of black cackled in the air in the middle of them all. No one wasted time as everyone drew their respective weapons and readied themselves to attack the unknown visitor. As the black apparition took a more solid figure, the Olympians were about to attack when the sounds of crying filled the throne room.

"Greetings, fellow gods" the man said nonchalantly.

"Who dare enters the god's throne room" Zeus's voice echoed throughout the throne room as a horrible thunderstorm was taking form.

"Shh, Zeus" the man silenced him "We wouldn't want to scare the baby do we?" The thunderstorm disappeared as fast as it appeared.

All eyes went to the bundle that he was cradling. Poseidon's eyes widen as he realized who the man was carrying.

"Percy, No!" he was about to lunge at the man when he felt something hold him back. He turned to see it was Zeus.

"Who are you and what do you want?" the king of gods demanded.

"Names are not important. I just came to let little Perseus here say goodbye to his… _father_" The man said the word mockingly. The man adjusted the bundle carefully, allowing Poseidon to see the baby inside. Percy had stopped crying and his wide innocent green eyes we're staring curiously at his father. "Look Perseus, say good bye to your _da-da, _the man that abandoned you, the man that couldn't even protect your mother_"._

"I swear to you, if you hurt my son…" he tightened his grip on his trident.

"Now you care, eh Poseidon. Don't worry, I'll keep your son safe, but I couldn't say the same for you in the future" Poseidon felt a little relived that the man wouldn't try to hurt his son, but Percy was still in his grasp.

"Please, just let Percy go" Poseidon begged. The man mocked a thinking expression.

"Nope" the man gave a feral grin and his figure went blurry. Poseidon broke out of Zeus's grasp and ran to the unknown man, but when he arrived there he was already gone leaving only small wisps of shadows. Poseidon took a moment to get the situation through his head before the heaviness of it made him fall on his knees, defeated.

"No…" he muttered.

…

Somewhere in Sicily, inside an old castle, the man once again took a solid form and sighed in relief. Travelling using Achlys's shadow may be convenient, but it sure was tiring. A woman ran to him with concern etched on her face.

"Lord Adonis!" the woman, who was wearing a sort of priestess's robes greeted as she bowed "Where have you been? Everybody was worried"

The man pulled back his hood revealing a rather feral face, a scar went across from his left cheek to his left eye. He had long silvery hair that seemed to glow under the moonlight, tied up at the end. His eyes were canary in color. "Oh please Lucrezia, I'm sure not everyone was worried"

"Yes but that's not the…" she stopped when she saw that he was cradling a moving bundle. "My lord Adonis, what is that?"

He adjusted Percy's blanket to let Lucrezia have a good look. "The correct term would be 'who', not 'what'" Lucrezia stared at the baby in his hands. In normal circumstances, she would melt at the cuteness of the green-eyed baby. But, this was not in any way normal. "Perseus, meet Lucrezia, your future caretaker". She didn't knew what shocked her more, that the lord had just brought back a baby out of the blue or that he already appointed her as the baby's caretaker without her consent.

"Who…How…" she stammered.

"This is Perseus. My son" he answered. "And I'll be training him"

Lucrezia gaped. Over the years of knowing Adonis, he never once mentioned anything about a lover and secondly, Adonis was the master of the order and he wasn't supposed to show favoritism, even if it was his own child.

"And one last thing Lucrezia, as one of my most loyal subordinates" Adonis handed Percy over to her. She got over her initial shock and gave a solemn face.

"What is it my lord?"

"Don't mention this to the higher echelons". This was bad. Keeping secrets was usually the first signs of insubordination. But Adonis wasn't one to do something as atrocious as that and besides he was maybe doing it to protect the baby. "Promise me, Lucrezia" Adonis stared at her with eyes of sincerity.

"I'll die before saying anything, my lord"

"Good" Adonis gave a warm smile "You have proven loyal to me many times Lucrezia, and I fear that I may not give you that much credit"

"Don't worry my lord, your recognition will suffice"

A moment of silence fell on them with only the gargle of Perseus filling it.

"I am afraid that I must ask you for one more thing Lucrezia"

"What is it, my lord?" she tilted her head in confusion.

"You may need to buy some diapers" Lucrezia took a breath before gagging. These few years are going to be hell. 'I just hope you're worth it Perseus'.


	2. Young Matador

_Heho, fellow readers. Sorry if i didn't make any sort of intro in the earlier chapter. But here it is now. Read and enjoy.  
_

_Densha.  
_

_Disclaimer:Percy jackson is not mine.  
_

_Six years later_

A young Perseus stood, breathing heavily as he held a sword in each hand. A single wound went across his back, staining his white shirt. A scar went across his left thigh. Ignoring the pain, he remained standing and waited for his father to attack. Adonis felt a sense of pride at his son's determined look on his face, showing no sign that he was in pain.

"Focus, Perseus. If I was really trying, you would have been dead already. Use the shift of wind to determine where I am going to attack from"

"Yes father" the young boy obediently replied. Adonis ran towards his son, aiming for a horizontal slash at his head. It looked to him that he wouldn't be able to block, but surprisingly he did, with the sword on his right hand. Using the momentary pause, Perseus tried to stab Adonis in the stomach. However, Adonis was much faster than him and he was able to dodge the sword rather easily.

"Good, Perseus" His father complimented as he sheathed his sword. "You've gotten better".

"Thank you… father" he responded between breathes, with sword still in hand.

"We'll stop today, Perseus"

After hearing that the day's training session has ended, Perseus collapsed on to the ground. Right on cue Lucrezia came in, rushing with water for Perseus. Lucrezia grimaced seeing the large cut across his back.

"You should go easier on him, my lord. He's just a little boy" Lucrezia reprimanded as she began to patch Perseus up.

"I would go easier on him but…" he paused.

"_But_" Lucrezia urged his master to answer.

"I guess he's just too smart for his own good, he knows when I try to go easy and that's one of the thing he really hates"

Lucrezia watched as his surrogate brother breathed in and out. With what she would have guessed was a satisfied look on his face. Over the years, she had grown attached to the young boy where it pained her to go through the suffering that was training. He should be at school, making friends, eating ice-cream. Not learn how to handle weaponry. As if sensing her distress, the boy's eyes slightly opened, revealing his innocent sea- green eyes.

"It's okay Lu" he said reassuringly. She had to smile at the nickname he had given to her when he first started to talk. "I'll be fine…" he drifted back to sleep.

"Lucrezia, I have to go" Adonis announced. "I have a meeting with the high order. Take care of him"

She gave a slight nod as she watched Perseus sleep soundly on her lap. He looked so peaceful. She'll take care of him. Even if Adonis didn't ask her to, she'll take care of him.

After a change of clothes and a quick bath, Lucrezia carried Perseus onto his bed and kissed him goodnight.

…

Adonis stood in front of the high tables where the five members of the high order currently resided.

"Adonis Di Bacci" the middle member called by his full name. "We have reports that you are training someone personally"

Adonis's heart skipped a beat. How could someone know, he kept Perseus a tight secret, only Lucrezia knew of his existence but he knew that Lucrezia would rather die than disobey an order from Adonis. Then how did they know… or were they merely testing him? He kept his face Impassive.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Don't try to act dumb Adonis" another member chimed in. "You're in no trouble, but we are interested"

"Interested in what?" Adonis gritted his teeth.

"We're interested in why'd you keep him a secret from us for so long"

"Let him keep his answer, what we really want is results" a third member continued. "Having an apprentice without our consent is unacceptable and by right we should execute him… but if you gave us a measure of his power, say by having him defeat a monster we would excuse the both of you"

"He's just a boy, he's not ready yet"

"Do you, a mere branch master, question our orders?"

"…No"

"Then give us results of your training"

Adonis gave a resentful bow. "Yes my lords" he replied through clenched teeth.

…

Being dragged out of bed wasn't actually Perseus's idea of a good wake up call. He looked to the hand dragging him as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Father…" he realized the person who was dragging him. Before he could get any answer from his father, they disappeared in a blur of darkness.

The next thing he knew was being thrown to the sandy ground. He looked around. It was around dawn and the cold morning wind blew, making him shiver. As his eyes adjusted to the surroundings, he realized that he was in some sort of field that resembled greatly of the coliseum. Perseus looked worryingly at his father.

"Father, what's happening?" Adonis didn't answer his adoptive son. He however threw two familiar swords to the ground near Perseus.

"Survive this, Perseus" Those were Adonis's only words before leaving him seemingly alone in the coliseum. The spotlights were switched on. Four bright lights illuminated the whole field. The lights blinded him for a moment before he heard a roar that terrified him greatly. Looking around, a terrifying creature approached him, with the head of a bull and the body of a man. He was somehow glad that Lucrezia made him bunch of ancient mythology books, The Minotaur. It once again gave one more roar that filled the coliseum. Grabbing his dual swords, he quickly readied himself against the Minotaur while at the same time going through strategies on how to defeat it. Okay, Theseus used a golden yarn to navigate through the Labyrinth, that's useless. If he was fighting the Labyrinth itself, then it might be useful. The special sword that Theseus used, no I won't have time to find it.

The Bull ran towards him, aiming to crush Perseus beneath his feet. He managed to avoid it easily with his small figure. That's it. The bull fights, how the bulls always runs towards the red cape and how they would pass through a couple meters from the matadors. Alright, reading himself once again, he waited for the Minotaur come closer, then dodge, then stab. The Minotaur rushed passed him, like he predicted. He was about to stab on its sides, when a large furry hand decked him on the torso, sending him flying a few feet in the air before landing on the rough sandy ground. He forgot one simple fact. Bulls in bullfights had hooves while this particular bull has hands. That punched hurt. Ignoring the blinding pain, he went back to his feet. He saw that the Minotaur was in a moment of disarray, judging from the small pieces of debris around it, it probably smashed into a stone pillar. Now was his chance, he ran to it and stabbed both his sword through its stomach. The beast howled in pain as it swatted Perseus away like a fly. The beast pulled both the swords and threw them away. Perseus cursed. That thing is hard to kill. Even with two deep wounds directly at his abdomen, the man bull was still walking erect.

Maybe it'll weaken, it was losing blood. Perseus would have just to wait until it collapses. His plan came crumbling down as the bull yet again charged at him. What should he do, he can't evade sideways. The bull already learnt its lesson. He looked for ways to evade the lumbering beast when he saw one, a small opening between his legs. This probably was one of the craziest ideas he ever had. One wrong move and his bones would crush. The man-bull came close enough. Perseus lunged between its legs and by some miracle came out unharmed. He wasted no time running to get his sword back. The Minotaur was already charging from behind him as he grabbed his swords. The he realized the he was near the walls. He moved closer to it and taunted the already enraged man-bull. As the bull was closing in, he jumped on the wall and used it as leverage and landed at the back of the Minotaur, with both his sword planted deep inside its shoulder blades. The Minotaur howled in pain as it tried to get Perseus off his back. Perseus continuously stabbed the back of the beast and all the while evading its grip.

The Minotaur ran rampant in the middle of the field as he tried to pry off the human riding behind it. After a few minutes the beast lost all of its energy and collapsed to the ground. Perseus dismounted the bull after he was sure that it wasn't pulling a trick. The bull's heavy breathing matched his own as his green eyes made contact with the beast's ones.

Perseus somehow understood what the bull was trying to convey. With a single slash on its neck he ended its misery as the body changed into yellow powder. Perseus sighed in relief as he collapsed on his butt. Someone approached hi m from the side. He was too tired to even turn his head, but he eventually did. His father stood, with a mix of emotions. Adonis was expecting for the boy to be mad at him or any sort of resentment actually, but Perseus only said this.

"Did I do well Father?" He sincerely asked. Even after putting him through this hell, he still considered his father's feelings first. He couldn't ask for a more loyal son.

"Yes, you did" Perseus gave a satisfied smile at his father before collapsing. Adonis kneeled down and used both his hands to carry the unconscious boy off the ground.

"A wondrous spectacle, you have put Adonis. That boy is certainly full of potential" Adonis gave a glare to only high order member in the coliseum. "He will be of use to the order in the future". Adonis continued his glare at him before disappearing in a blur of darkness.

…

It was early morning when a figured solidified in a corridor of a hidden castle. The Figure was carrying a boy with black hair.

"My lord" Lucrezia came from a corridor. "Where were…" she stopped when she saw the unconscious body of her surrogate brother. What shocked her more was the presence of a bull horn on his stomach. "Oh god… what happened?" Lucrezia took him from his arms as she carried Perseus back to his room. After a quick check up, Lucrezia came out with arms crossed and an angry look. Adonis could've smiled, one of his most loyal… no, his most loyal servant questioning him because of what happened, just shows that Lucrezia cared for the boy deeply.

"I demand an explanation"

"Yeah" Adonis sighed "I guess you do".


	3. In need of a Friend

_Heho, fellow readers. Yeah the order are kind of annoying are they. So, someone asked me about Adonis's abilities but i can't really tell that because you need to read this chapter first. I will try to explain Adonis's powers more in the next chapter. Well ,I kept you long enough. Enjoy  
_

_Densha,  
_

_Five years later_

There was nothing more evil in the world than a rogue god, an entity that already lost its place and duty in the world hundreds of years ago. That was drilled into the head of Perseus after years of intense training under his father. A rogue god was merely a ghost, roaming the earth with no clear goal straight in mind. Unlike the phantoms of mortal however, these rogue gods caused trouble, complications at the scale of calamities. Earth quakes, famine, diseases. These were the works of said gods. To prevent the death of thousands, it was the job of the order to deal with them.

In a city near Italy's western coastline, Perseus Di Bacci navigated through the dark alleyways. His cloak covered the upper part of his face as he silently followed the scent of a god. The trail went to the left. He abruptly stopped when he saw a dog blocking his way. The dog growled and began to bark at him. Perseus tried to avoid the dog by running past it. The dog had other ideas as it went and lunged at him, biting his arm. Perseus pried it from his sleeve and twisted the dog's neck, throwing the lifeless body behind him. "Stupid mongrel" he muttered as he continued on the trail. The scent was getting stronger as he felt an ominous atmosphere prevailed on him. He was getting close.

The Trail led him to the infamous catacombs beneath the city. He couldn't see clearly in the darkness and resorted to using the eyes of Arktos, the god of the night sky, to help him see in the dark corridors. 'Arktos' Perseus remembered as his normal vision changed to night vision. The first rouge god he was ordered to kill. The god was useless, he couldn't fight well and his powers were nonexistent resulting in an easy victory for Perseus. His chromian steel sword, a rare metal from the time of the primordial gods, allows one to steal the power of a god. His first spoil of war from killing a god was the ability to see clearly at night as to see at daytime. It proved useful from time to time as his job required him to mostly function at night time.

The smell of rotting meat reached his nose. Gods, this place was disgusting. He made a turn leading him into a corridor where a mix of green and yellow light emanated from the other end. Slowing down, he pulled one of his swords and crept slowly towards the edge. The lights brought him into a broken down chamber. Hundreds of skeletal figures lay inside the dugout graves on the wall of the chamber. In the middle of it was some sort of well that was the source of the yellow -green light.

And there she was doing some type of incantation in front of the well. The goddess he was assigned to put down, Panacea, a goddess of healing.

"Panacea" Perseus called out, his young voice startling the goddess and successfully stopping her ritual. She turned around revealing her face that was dirty with mud. She looked around her twenties and Perseus guessed she used to look beautiful.

She looked, stunned at the appearance of the hooded figure. "W- Who are you?" she stammered all the while trying to compose yourself.

Perseus only answer was sheathing his other sword and readying himself.

"You're here to kill m-me?" receiving no answer, she looked around her to find something to fight with. Eventually, she thrust her hands towards the skeletons on the walls. A moment passed without anything happening before one of the skeletons began to move. Not long after that, more skeletons began to follow.

"Kill him" she ordered, safe behind the army of growing reanimated skeletons. Perseus ran towards her direction, easily cutting down any skeleton that tried to block him. He stopped when he realized that the skeleton's numbers were not dwindling down. He slashed a skeleton before it tried to tackle him down. He tried to think of aw way to get to Panacea but he felt a familiar tug on his stomach. 'The well' he realized. He slashed down two more of the skeletons before willing whatever water that was still inside it. Two streams of liquid came out of the well and shot towards the goddess. The streams of water tightened on her wrist and neck before she was pulled up like a puppet in the air. Without their master's focus, the skeletons all collapsed on the ground in pieces.

Perseus brought Panacea closer to him. "Please, don't. I'll do anything… please" she begged as she began to cry. Perseus wasn't fazed at the goddess's imploring for him to spare her life. He instead pulled his hood back, remembering what his father said to him a couple of years back.

'Show respect. Let the ones you're about to kill see your face and give a quick painless death'

"You're only a boy…" Panacea noted in surprisal. And he was about to take her life.

"I'm sorry" he stabbed through her chest. Her eyes widening as her life was pulled away from her. Releasing the grips on her wrist and neck, his emotionless green eyes watched as her lifeless body tumbled to the ground. Slowly, like termites eating wood, her body began to disappear into red powder. He felt the heat coming off from his chromian steel sword, a sign that her godly power has been completely absorbed. Then came the part he hated the most. He fell to his knee as a terrible migraine overtook him. It lasted for a whole five minutes before the pain subsided, leaving him needing of breath. Absorbing a god's power had always left him exhausted since adapting to it required a lot of energy. Standing back up on his two feet, he sheathed his sword as he pulled hood back up and began walking to the exit.

…

There was only one thing that Adonis hated about being branch master and that thing was doing paperwork. Weapon budget, salaries, utilities, it was enough to make him burn the papers altogether. The growing number of initiates didn't help with his stress either. Leaning back against his chair, he took a moments rest. Lucrezia was on the other side of the room, going through some old articles.

A figure solidified in the middle of the room, alerting the two occupiers of the room of a new arrival. The figure then took shape of Perseus. He began to walk towards his father as he pulled his hood back, revealing sea-green eyes and black hair.

"Perseus, how was the mission?" his father question, though he could probably guess the answer already.

"A success, Panacea is no more" Perseus answered with a deadpanned look, like he was just delivering normal news, not news of someone's death.

He frowned. Adonis didn't like his son's stolidity. He absolutely hated it. Perseus now never showed emotions anymore, even towards him. It irked him to know that it was his own training that made his son act this way.

"Good, you are dismissed"

Perseus gave a small bow at his father and began walking towards the door.

"Sister Lucrezia" he regarded before leaving the room. Lucrezia clenched her teeth at her surrogate brother's formality. He wanted him to call her 'Lu' like he did when he was younger. It was so much better than sister Lucrezia. Being called 'sister' made her feel like a nun. Standing up from her tabled she stomped towards Adonis.

"My Lord" she spat. Adonis gave a low sigh. It wasn't really surprising that he expected to be reprimanded by his assistant… again. "We need to do something about this, he's completely changed"

"I wish I could do something Lucrezia, I really do but I can't change a person's attitude. You're better off in asking me to move a mountain"

"You were the one that made him that way. Now, find a way to get him back"

He stood up in frustration, why couldn't she get it. "Yes, I made a mistake in the way I raised him, and like most mistakes. They are impossible to undo"

Lucrezia remained silent for a while, deep in thought. For a while Adonis thought she was about to storm out of the room. "What about a friend?" she suggested.

"What do you mean?" his curiosity elevated.

"You know, someone his age to converse with. He doesn't have any other human contact except for us. Maybe a fresh face would be good for him" Lucrezia explained. Adonis thought about it for a moment.

"How can we be so sure that Perseus wouldn't just ignore this person?" Adonis inquired, seeing where this was going.

"Well they do say opposites attract. Since its Perseus we're talking about. We need someone brash, noisy, persistent…" Lucrezia stopped naming traits as a face name immediately went through her mind.

"Erika"

…

Erika Medici was one of the younger initiates. Some would say she was one of the troubled students. She prefers the word 'misunderstood'. Her fighting skills, despite her exaggerated boasts, were abysmal at best. She was undisciplined in every way possible. She always stays out even after curfew, resulting in sleeping in during the morning. Her dress code was always inadequate and conveniently she was about the same age as Perseus. Overall, she was _perfect_ for the plan.

Lucrezia went out to the grounds to oversee the daily training of the initiates. The schedule for midday was sparring sessions and she was hoping to see if Erika was bad at fighting as the reports say she was. It wasn't hard finding Erika, with her bright-red hair and all. She was in a middle of a fight against a girl around same age group as her.

Erika had a confident look as she readied her sword while her opponent looked on impassively. At the start of the fight, Erika rushed with the training sword in a stabbing position. The opponent moved only at the last second, using her own wooden sword to disarm Erika's and then kicking her on the sides with the force of the kick making her fall head first to the ground. Five seconds. She was defeated in five seconds. The reports were painfully accurate then.

Erika remained on the ground as she suffered the shame of defeat for the… well she didn't really keep count on the many times she was sent sprawling to the ground. She was about to stand up when a shadow loomed over her.

"What is it -" She didn't finish the sentence as one of her eyes opened and saw that the shadow belonged to the Branch master's assistant. She rushed to a kneeling position. "Lady Lucrezia"

"It's just Lucrezia" The Medici girl looked around to see everybody was already the same position as her. "Erika"

"Yes" the girl looked up to see the beautiful blond woman.

"Lord Adonis wants to see you" Erika's heart pounded. The branch master wanted to see her. This had to be something bad, considering the fact she had never done any sort of accomplishment that was worthy enough to be of notice to the master. Well, any sort of accomplishment really. Erika could only nod in response as she stood up began to follow Lucrezia into the main keep.

…

Erika, in all her life would have never thought to find an inanimate object to be terrifying. Here she was in front of the doors leading to the branch master's office. The doors looked like the gates of hell to her. Her heart was beating heavily.

'Calm down' she thought to herself 'Nothing bad is going happen'.

Lucrezia opened the door and led her inside the room. The place looked like a mini library. She groaned mentally at the seemingly endless amount of books. _This_ was hell.

"Erika Medici" a voice called out to her, making her jump. The source came from the end of the room where the branch master sat. "Welcome" Adonis stood up from his seat in greeting. Lucrezia urged for the Medici girl to go to him. The moment she arrived in front of his table, Adonis went through a couple pieces paper until he got the one he wanted and then gave it to Erika.

The girl blinked in confusion "What?"

"Congratulations, Erika Medici. You have just received your first assignment"

At that time Erika was a mix of emotions. She was relieved that she wasn't in any sort of trouble. She was ecstatic about getting an assignment, meaning she'll be ahead of the others in her age group. And then there was the pessimistic side.

"Lord Adonis"

"Is there a problem Erika?"

"Are you sure you got the right person for the job?"

"Why of course, I read your report and you were perfect" Erika somehow felt happier that this wasn't some sort of confusion.

"I don't mean to question your judgment, but did you read my report _thoroughly"_

"Yes I read it thoroughly" he gave a fake frown. "You don't want the assignment?"

"I want it but…" This was unexpected. The reports said that she was boastful. Shouldn't she be jumping for the opportunity? Erika gave a determined look. "I'll take the assignment"

'Good' Adonis thought as he glanced at Lucrezia's triumphant face.

"This will be a team operation and you'll be leaving three days"

A team operation, she wondered momentarily about who her partner will be. Well no use of pondering about it. Right now she has to pack her stuff and get ready. She'll just hope that her partner was someone nice.


	4. Fire and Ice

_Heho, fellow readers. So someone asked asked me who Arktos is. This is the answer,Arktos was the Greek god of the night sky and constellations. And about the appearance of Norse and Aztec is a possibility that Norse gods will come into play, but not so much of Aztec cause i don't really know much about Aztec mythology, sorry for those Aztec lovers out there. I hope this answers some of your questions. Well, on with the story. Enjoy._

_Densha,_

Perseus sat motionless in a meditative pose with beads sweat dripping from his brow. He focused, trying to will away the voices.

'Please don't' someone whispered. His face twitched as he remembered the hapless voice of his latest cold kill. Three of them now, young Perseus had killed three gods, four counting in Panacea.

_Why are you doing this? I beg you. Don't._ The voices of his kills came to him as one, filling it in his mind. His focus was gone as he tried to shut away the voices by covering up his ears. It wasn't helping.

"Quiet!" Perseus shouted to the empty room. He gripped his head tightly as he began to look for the needle he had prepared earlier. Gripping the needle with his right hand, he raised and stabbed the pencil size needle at the sides of his neck. The voices then slowly began to fade until he was only left with the piecing pain on his neck. Grabbing a piece of torn cloth, he used it to put pressure and stop the flow of blood.

Adonis looked on feeling slightly disturbed at his son act. As much as he didn't like it, he knew it was critical to his son's mental wellbeing. The first time it happened was after killing the god Arktos. The whole night the boy clenched his ears shut, begging in a whispered manner for the voice to go away. The day after, the voice had gone and he thought it was over but the following night it came back. Adonis then enlisted the help of one of the resident healers. It was that night that the healer took a needle and stabbed it on his neck, much to Adonis's horror. Apparently the healer explained that pain was used to drown in the voices. He was this close in killing the healer when Perseus's uneasy look on his face changed into a much calmer one. Even after countless times watching his son do the perturbing ritual, he never gotten used to it.

"Father" Perseus regarded the hidden man as he stood up and he wiped away the blood on the needle, placing it with the others on the table. Adonis couldn't help but smile. He was getting good in sensing him.

"Perseus" he replied, walking out of the shadows with a dossier in his hand. Perseus noted it as he buttoned up his shirt. Adonis looked to the other needles on the table. Most of them were used, still stained with blood. His condition was getting worse.

"A mission" he remarked with absolute indifference.

"Yes" Adonis handed the dossier to Perseus as he begun to read it. A bunch of monsters were seen in a nearby Island, and he was ordered to exterminate them. Perseus mentally raised an eyebrow. This was at best an easy mission. Why would Adonis send him to quell mere monsters… unless there was something else? Perseus waited for his father to explain fully.

"That is your mission _officially_. The real thing is… I want you train someone"

_Train someone,_ as in teach. Not 'train' as in the motorized vehicle on railways. Perseus wasn't so sure he was even qualified to teach someone. He personally felt that he didn't have the patience or rather experience to do so. But if it was orders, then he has no right to refuse. A small part of Adonis hoped for some sort of response from young demigod, a retort or doubting words. Nothing came.

"The person you are trains is Erika Medici, one of our… _special_ initiates" Special as in worst. "She doesn't know that you're training her yet" She was never even told that it was training. "You'll be leaving in three days"

His son only nodded in response. Adonis looked at him in regret. Turning around, he rippled and disappeared. Let's just hope that this works.

…

_Three days later._

Erika kicked the sand castle she had spent half an hour making. She was told to wait at the beach for her so called _partner_. That was at five in the evening. It was now almost to nine. If she knew he was going to be this late, she would have had dinner already. She breathed and calmed herself down. It was no use getting angry now. She could vent it off her partner later. Having nothing to do, she made a quick check of her inventory, for the fifth time already.

The minute she went into the dormitory, she went and packed whatever she thought she needed for a mission. She now realized that it may have been too much. Some of the girls grew curious as to why she was packing her bag. One of the smarter girls claimed that she was running, to which Erika happily ignored. Erika without thinking blurted out her mission to her curious dorm mates. It was probably one of the most _hilarious_ jokes in the whole European continent at the scale the other girls were laughing. He gave no verbal counter as she continued on packing her bags while her dorm mates laughed. She clenched her fist. She'll show them that she wasn't just a helpless little girl that doesn't know how to fight.

Then she remembered the absence of her partner for the mission. She grunted in frustration. How could she show them if her partner for the mission wasn't even showing up. She cursed loudly.

"Erika Medici" a voice called out to her. She jumped slightly in surprisal and turned around to see the source of the voice. The voice belonged to a hooded figure. He was a head longer than her and she couldn't see the upper part of his face due to the hood. Then she felt angry. How long did this guy stand there while she was making a fool out of herself?

"Who are you?" she asked with a hint of anger as she crossed her arms.

"Perseus Di Bacci" he introduced himself. "Your partner"

Her eye twitched. "My partner…" she spat out "WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HERE HOURS AGO!" she shouted at the boy. The boy however didn't do anything in response.

"Are you done?" he asked instead. "Let's go"

"Go?" she asked exasperatedly. "If you don't realize, our objective is on an Island, across the sea. Are you going to just teleport us there? Huh?"

"Yes" he replied, completely surprising her. She wasn't given a chance to ask for an explanation when Perseus suddenly grabbed and the duo disappeared in a blur of darkness.

…

As soon as the both of them solidified on the Island, the Medici girl leaned over and coughed, since she didn't had dinner, she had nothing to puke out.

She was about to quetch the brains out of Perseus but stopped when she saw that her partner was already walking towards the jungle. Biting her lip, she ran after him.

Perseus navigated through the jungle with ease while his companion stumbled occasionally on the rocks and submerged tree roots. Erika didn't know where he was going, nor did she want to swallow her pride and ask him. So she remained quiet as he led her deeper into the jungles. After almost an hour of moving they had finally reached a large clearing.

"We'll camp here for the night" Perseus announced. He turned to see Erika had already collapsed to the ground, exhausted. She glared at him seeing he was not tired. As if the whole jungle trek was just a walk in the park for him. She was so exhausted; she could just fall asleep on the ground without her sleeping bag. She was about to, but her stomach had to rumble.

She groaned. And she was just about to fall asleep.

"Medici" Perseus called out. She opened her eyes and barely caught the packet he threw at her. It was a protein bar. "Eat" he ordered "Tomorrow, you hunt your own food"

Yea, tomorrow's going to be delightful isn't it? She couldn't care less now as she happily munched on her food. While she was eating, Perseus conjured up a ball of light using the power of the goddess Anatole. Erika was eyes widen seeing him use the power.

"How in…"

"Chromian steel allows the wielder to absorb the power of the victim" Perseus sheathed his sword, giving her a good look of it. "This is one of the powers I obtained" she wanted to ask more. How many powers this guy had? How many souls had he killed already? But she was tired and wanted to sleep. The questions could come tomorrow. As she laid herself on the ground, she saw Perseus pulling out a bunch of needles from his bag and laying it on the ground besides him. Did he fight using needles? That certainly is unusual. Shrugging her shoulders, she let out a yawn and closed her eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

…

Erika woke up to the sounds of the many different kind of animal in the forest. Stretching as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She looked around the clearing. The events of yesterday came to her mind and she groaned in response. She was going to hunt for breakfast. Standing up she took out her covered up sword from her bag and began to walk around the clearing. Her partner was missing. Well, she really didn't care about what happened to him.

Something on the ground caught her eyes. A small patch on the ground was stained red. She moved in closer to it before realizing that it was blood. What happened last night when she slept?

"Medici" a familiar voice called out. She spun around to see Perseus with two dead rabbits behind his back. She resisted the urge to gape at him. His hood was pulled back, revealing his sea green eyes and long black hair. He looked nothing she expected him to look like. She thought that he wore a hood because of some sort of deformity that he wished to hide on his face. But he wasn't bad to the eye. "Is there something wrong?" he asked.

She composed herself as she realized she was staring. "No" she quickly replied.

"You were sleeping in, so I hunted breakfast" he explained his absence.

_Breakfast_, she looked at him horrified. No she couldn't eat the cute animals. She just… Her musings were cut off as her stomach rumbled, slightly louder than last night. It seemed to her that she has no choice in the matter.

After breakfast and a moment of feeling of regret for eating the poor bunnies, she was about to pack her stuff when Perseus stopped her.

"We don't break camp" he ordered.

"What?" She responded loudly "We need to hunt down the monsters"

"The Monsters aren't going anywhere and we have a week to complete our objective. For now, we train"

"Train?" she asked confused.

That's when it hit her. Why she, possibly the worst initiate in the order, out of the blue was given a mission. It was to train her. She was probably really bad that they had to give her a special training course in an isolated Island.

"I get it" she looked down then looked up to him. "Look here Perseus, but I don't need pity help from you or anyone at all for that matter"

"I am not doing this because of pity, these are merely orders." Wow, he was honest.

"Yeah whatever, the thing is no one can help me. I'm a hopeless case. I suck. Someone like you can't even help me here"

"Even ants, can overpower the mighty lion"

"Well we're not animals here, are we Perseus? Look, if this is the real aim mission then we better just go home"

"Medici" he called out. "Why did you take this mission?"

She thought about that for a while. She herself didn't even know why she accepted the mission. Maybe it was pure stupidity acting out that day. She herself knew that she wasn't ready and yet she took it.

"If you don't know or you don't even try to further your skills in fighting, why not leave just the order? It would be easier for everyone, won't it" It hurt, he was speaking the truth and it hurt… bad. Leaving the order would be better.

"My father" she muttered.

Perseus cocked his head in confusion "Your father?"

She let out a shaky breath as she squatted on the ground and hugged her legs. "He was one of the members of the order. He died in service" she rubbed a single tear from her cheek. "I joined the order… because I want to honor my father's memory"

An uncomfortable silence fell on them. Perseus stared on. He really didn't have experience with these sorts of things.

"This honor of yours to your father is important, yes?" She nodded slowly. "Then train, if this honor is as important as you say it is. Why are you giving up so easily? I do not care of your choices. So it is yours to choose whether to go on with my training or don't" he waited for an answer, though he didn't had to wait for long.

She stood straight and gave a dangerous smirk to Perseus "Fine, I'll go with your training. But at the end of the week, I better be one hell of a fighter"

Perseus sighed mentally. This was going to be a long week.

A\N. Since I'll be using some unrecognizable gods in my story. I'll give the duty and race of gods that are introduced in the story, at the end of the chapter.

Panacea - a Greek goddess of healing

Anatole - The Greek goddess of sunrise.

reviews are like donations for the author. Won't you donate to me.


	5. A demon is born

_Heho, fellow readers. Well some of you asked if characters from the PJO series will be introduced. Fortunately for you guys, yes they are going to make an appearance. But i won't make it unrealistic like annabeth suddenly appearing in Italy or Nico shadow traveling all the way to sicily, eventually they will appear You just need to have patience my fellow readers. So on with the story. Enjoy_

_Densha,  
_

The five members of the high order looked on at their summoned with total apathy. A figure had appeared in front of them. He wore some sort of ancient roman cloak and a blue choker that was connected to a broken crimson chain. He was engulfed in a layer of calm black flames. The figure looked up at the five of them and gave a deadly grin, showing his shark like teeth.

"Why it's good to see you again my honorable masters" the figure said in a mocking manner. "I was afraid that you may have forgotten about me"

"Letum" the leader of the high order called the figure's name.

"What is it now, Bartolommeo? Wait, I want to take guess. You want the lottery number for this week, right. No. You want to know the results for last night's football match. Wait, one last try…" Letum was cut off from his rant when the choker on his neck brightened, producing smoke from it at the same time. He fell to the ground, coughing as he tried to pry off the agonizing piece of apparel from his neck.

The choker slowly began to lose its intensity, releasing Letum from his momentary torture. He laughed.

"When I get out from this wretched thing, I promise you that I will kill you all and leave you all in a fucking mess, that even the gods won't even recognize your pathetic bodies"

Bartolommeo shared a look of concern with the other member of the high order. If Letum wasn't useful for gathering info of the more _shady_ kind, they would have already disposed of him.

"You know what we want, Letum"

"And you know what I want in return then, Bartolommeo" he replied as he stood back up. Letum disappeared and reappeared to his side at the blink of an eye. "_Blood_" he whispered to his ear, making his spine tingle. Letum returned back to his original position in front of the high order.

"You will get your _sacrifice_ as always" The head of the order replied. "Now…"

Letum gave a satisfied smiled. "I have interesting information regarding a certain member … that you might want to know"

…

Maybe it was the heat or maybe it was the lack of physical entertainment, but hearing Erika grunt and occasionally curse as she went through the simple training steps was in some degree amusing to Perseus. He stood sternly on top of a tree branch, meters above her, watching over the girl's training and also keeping an eye out for monsters. Perseus on the first day had scouted the rest of the island with ease. He had concluded from his observation that all the monsters we're concentrated on the other side of the island, a safe distance from here. He however didn't know why the monsters were grouped together there. Well, it didn't matter now.

Erika groaned in frustration as she threw her sword to the ground. She looked up glaring daggers to the boy training her.

"You stopped" Perseus noted "Why?"

"Why!?" she shouted. "That's because you've been making me do those same stupid movements for four hours already. My hands feel like jelly. I'm all sweaty" she took a sniff at her clothes "And I stink"

"Yes, you have been doing the training for four hours already, a better record than yesterday"

"Look here Perseus you said you'd make me a decent fighter, but all you're doing is showing me these boring moves" she explained. "C'mon, show me some cool moves" she said in a pleading manner.

"Very well" he leaped off the tree branch and landed smoothly besides her.

"Show off" she muttered. Perseus pulled out his own sword and moved into an attack stance. "What are you doing?"

"To accurately assess your skills, I will engage in a simple spar with you. Pick up your sword"

"What?" she asked confused.

"Pick up your sword, we fight"

She rushed to her sword and clumsily readied herself. "Wait, wait. I'm not…"

She was cut off when she barely blocked off an attack from Perseus. She wasn't given any time to think as Perseus swirled around, aiming a horizontal slash at her. She stumbled back, barely avoiding his sword. "You could have killed me"

"If I wanted to, you'd be dead already" Erika swallowed in a horrified manner. Somehow she knew that her trainer wasn't lying.

Erika lunged as she tried to stab him at the stomach. Perseus however easily dodged the attack by slightly turning his body, allowing the sword to pass by him. The attack didn't stop there as the girl continued to attack the boy. Her frustrations grew as a single slash didn't come in contact with the boy. He didn't even use his sword to block her attack. He just evaded them without breaking a single sweat. The exchange lasted for about five minutes before Perseus had ordered to stop. She breathed heavily as she waited for her trainer to criticize her on her fighting.

"You use to much unnecessary force. You movements are ungoverned. You don't think about your attacks." The criticisms came without a cushion. He was damn straight forward with it. He began to move towards her. "Considering this, an aggressive stance is suitable for you".

Perseus gripped both her wrist, and directed her to a more specific manner. After that he adjusted her legs using his hands on her thigh. Her face turned a darker shade of crimson after she realized what the boy had just done.

"Okay, let's start with -"

"What did you just to me?" Erika asked in a low voice. Perseus turned around in slight confusion. What _did _he do? Erika's face was red and her eyes were narrowed at him in a deadly way.

"What?" Perseus asked, sensing a growing killing intent

"Did you just _grope_ me?"She enunciated every word as she ran at him in faster than the speed she was fighting with earlier. He had to leap away to avoid the attack, but it still managed to cut him on his cheek. He unsheathed out his sword as he tried to figure out what was happening. Groped her? He did? He couldn't ponder over it too long as he blocked another horizontal slash that came from her. He even had trouble with blocking her attacks. Apparently her enragement made her attacks more fluid and powerful. He wanted to somehow use this for training, but he knew if he didn't stop it now. Someone was going to get seriously hurt.

"Erika!" he shouted. It seemed to do the trick as he watched Erika stop in the middle of an attack. It was like Erika had broken out of a mini trance. She stood there dumbly as she watched the small trickle of blood on her trainer's face before she realized that she was the one who made that cut.

She ran up to him, horrified and yet a little bit proud that an attack had managed to make contact.

"Very impressive, Medici" he complimented as he gave a rare smile. "It seems that angering you had revealed your true power"

She felt slightly fazed at his smile but quickly composed herself. Then she felt slightly violated.

"Y-you're not going to that again are you?"

"No of course not" he was referring to angering her again. "Careless movements because of the cloudiness of one's mind by emotions are something to avoid during battles. It makes one more prone to mistakes." He paused and turned his head to look at Erika. She felt somewhat uncomfortable under his gaze. "Let's continue training, shall we"

…

Adonis sighed in frustration as he walked along the corridors of the high order building. This was the fifth — no, this was the sixth time that he was summoned to the high order council over the last three months, which was relatively a lot compare to the other branch masters. All his visits were trivial matters that he felt wasn't even worth bringing into the council. Didn't they have anything else to do? If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that the high order was just trying to annoy him into quitting his job. However he did know better, but it still didn't stop him from pondering about it.

He went through the doors that led into the council chamber, to see the five council members staring grimly at him.

Adonis made way to the middle of the chamber and kneeled in front of them "My lords" he addressed them.

"Adonis Di Bacci" Bartolommeo called out. His hands tapped impatiently on the high table. "Your secrets really run deep, do they Adonis?" Adonis kept quiet, its better if you don't show emotions in situations such as this. "You can keep your silence Adonis but it won't affect the decision of this council. That child of yours holds the blood of a god"

Silence befell on them. Adonis clenched his teeth. How did they found out? Or were they playing a trick on him — no, this can't be a trick.

"…and-" the head member continued. "The order does not condone the presence of gods" Oh, the hypocrisy of it all. "Therefore, that child is to be executed"

The council expected shouts of retorts or maybe some signs of opposition. But they didn't expect a laugh, a low rumbling laugh that terrified the high order to the very core. Adonis held out his hand in front of him. Using the power of Achlys, the shadows around the room gathered and took the shape of a sword. Adonis gripped the shadowy handle and it immediately coagulated in to a solid sword.

"What is the meaning of this Adonis?" a member of the order questioned.

"Oh this" he held out his obsidian sword "This is a weapon that was used by the god Achlys – The _Kokkinos krinos_. Ironic isn't it, the name." Adonis readied his sword.

"This is treason, Adonis!" Bartolommeo shouted as he stood up. "You risk your life for that child. You dare stand against the order"

He stayed silent as he remembered the small amount of people close to him. Lucrezia… Perseus…

'_Do you really intend to die here, Adonis?_' a voice said inside his mind.

'I guess it can't be avoided, but I won't be going down without a fight' he thought.

'_What about Perseus? He needs to know his birthright'_

Adonis mentally sighed 'You tell him. It's not like I'll have the chance to anyways'

'_Very well' _a momentary pause '_It was an honor serving you, lord Adonis"_

Adonis gave a fairly warm smile 'and it was an honor having you as a friend'

Adonis looked back to the five member of the high order. "This isn't treason" he moved closer to them "This is a revolution"

He jumped up. While in the air, he made a black spear and threw it at the member at the left end. It went completely through his neck. He was about to cut down Bartolommeo when another sword intercepted it before it hit his face. Adonis looked to the man that blocked his attack. He was completely covered in black flames.

"Letum" Adonis whispered in realization. Letum made a vertical slash at Adonis causing him to leap back.

"Oh, you remembered my name, Adonis" he disappeared then reappeared in front of Adonis. "When was it the last time we met?"

Adonis didn't answer but lunged and tried to stab Letum in the chest. Letum easily blocked it with his sword. "Yes" he said in remembrance "It was fifteen years ago, the day you imprisoned me inside that stupid _ring_. It's just my luck that I'll be the one killing you"

Adonis didn't try to retort. He had to focus completely into the fight.

"My, you've gotten slow. Is it old age?" Letum insulted. He easily evaded one of Adonis's attacks. He watched in slight amusement at how Adonis was panting heavily. "C'mon. Keep up. Entertain me, Adonis!" Letum blew out black flames from out of his mouth. Adonis barely avoided them as he leaped to the sides. He tore away his cape that had caught fire. He hardly had time to block the incoming sword attack. The force of the clash pushed Adonis back into a wall, centimeters deep. He waited for his blurry vision to be clear again only to see a fist being directed to his face. Letum punched the man, deeper and deeper into the wall.

Adonis mustered all his strength and kicked Letum away from him. His face was already a bloody mess. He tried to take another step to only fall on to his knees. This was bad. He lost almost all his energy, at this rate. He was really going to die.

"Adonis Di Bacci" Bartolommeo called out. "The high order will give you one last chance to reclaim yourself"

Adonis kept his silence.

"You have made a very bad decision. Are they any last words, Di Bacci?"

"Yeah… burn in Tartarus"

Bartolommeo waved his hand in dismissal. Letum smiled grimly and jubilantly pierced his sword into Adonis's abdomen. Letum kicked his body from his sword to the ground, letting him lay in his own pool of blood. The next thing Adonis knew was darkness.

…

Alright, she can do this. She already had training — for one measly week. Erika looked at the opponent in front of her. Her opponent was a bird with a head of a woman. A harpy Perseus said when they first encountered it. The harpy was flying above the space in front of her. She readied herself as she saw the harpy was about to attack. The harpy flew down at a horrifying speed and she leapt to the side to avoid the attack. The harpy howled in anger.

Erika looked on in fright. If the harpy followed the same attack pattern as earlier, she would be able to predict her movements and easily kill the harpy. The only thing was the harpy wasn't that stupid. She saw the harpy once again began to attack her. It flew down in the same manner it did earlier. Apparently, this harpy was stupid.

She slashed the harpy's head and the creature disintegrated into golden powder before it could hit the ground. She watched in astonishment at the golden sand on the ground, slowly being dispersed by the wind. She did it. She made her first kill. She was so happy that she could break into dance right in the middle of the fight, though she didn't want to risk getting killed while she was saltating to the music inside her mind. That would seriously be a pitiful end. She turned around to face whatever monsters that were left only to see patches of yellow across the ground. Perseus walked over to her as he sheathed his sword.

"That is the last of them" he noted as if killing over two dozen monsters were a regular thing.

"W-what happened? They were thirty of them. You killed —" Now she felt stupid about getting excited over killing a single harpy while he killed a lot more and in the same time she killed the harpy.

The moment that she sheathed her word, the air in front of them blurred until an image of a familiar woman was in place.

"Lucrezia, what's wrong?" Perseus asked, knowing that communicating using the scryers was only used in case of emergencies.

"Perseus, I don't have much time" she looked like she was crying earlier. Her eyes were puffy. "Adonis is… dead"

Perseus looked at Lucrezia's image like it something alien to him. "What?" he asked.

"I'm sorry Perseus, but —"

"You're lying, Lucrezia" his voice was low and dangerous.

"Perseus, please listen to me, he was killed by the high order" she pleaded to him.

"You lie!" he shouted

"No I'm not!" she shouted back. She calmed herself as she saw the sad face her surrogate brother was giving "Look, Perseus. You're now in the order's hit list. You need to hide"

Perseus kept silent.

"I'm so sorry Perseus, I just wish…" the words never left her mouth. The image became distorted, then disappeared

A grim silence befell on the both of them.

"Perseus…" Erika whispered in concern. Normally she would try to comfort him, but the situation was so crazy. He began to move and she followed suit. "Hey where are you going?"

"To avenge my father" she stopped in her tracks. She should stop him. How? She opened her mouth to say something but another voice beat her to it.

"Even if it cost your life"

Both of them turned around with swords immediately unsheathed. A boy was walking towards them. He looked to be around sixteen with flowing blue hair. The color of his hair moved like fire. He wore coal black robes with gold linings.

"Who are you?" Perseus inquired as he prepared himself to attack.

"I am Achlys. A friend of Adonis" the boy introduced. His voice was calming, like listening to the waves.

"You're a friend of my father?" Perseus asked curiously as he lowered his weapon.

"Yes" Achlys stopped, steps in front of the duo. "I have come with a message from Adonis"

At normal circumstances, Perseus wouldn't trust the words of a stranger that came out from the jungle, but something inside him was telling that this person was speaking the truth. "Speak"

"There was a reason why Adonis was killed?"

"Tell me" his face determined.

"You – Perseus – hold the blood of a god"

Perseus was slightly startled at the revelation but urged the person continue. Achlys told about how the high order killed his father because he didn't want Perseus to be executed. He clenched his teeth at this part while Erika found it all hard to take in.

"They deserve to die"

"Yes, they do. But before that you first need to know why the order was formed"

"Why do I need to know that?"

"That is because, even before you were born Perseus, Adonis already had the intentions of taking down the high order.

"Why is that?"

"Well, you see, Adonis was once one of the most deadly members in the order. But in due time he grew to see the evil being done to rogue gods. That realization eventually breeds hatred to the order itself and the reason the order was formed"

"And that reason is?" Perseus asked.

"To fight against the gods" Achlys paused momentarily before continuing. "Man was always the arrogant kind. People didn't feel comfortable about having some powerful entity, ruling over them. So they stood and fought against them. At that time the order managed to kill some of them but the price the order was paying was a lot. Over the centuries the order integrated into only killing rogue gods that have no power and were not cared by the other god"

"But aren't rogue gods evil too"

"Think Perseus. Those evil deeds were drilled into your mind because of supervised training. Have you actually seen a rogue god doing atrocities?"

"No" He was confused taking it all in. Erika was already lost way back in the conversation.

"So now you see the true evil behind all this. The reasons the order was created, the ones that don't care that their kin are being killed. The order is merely a factor in this equation. The ones that truly deserve to be killed aren't the order but –"

"The gods themselves" Perseus continued in realization. "That was my father's dream"

Achlys nodded in agreement. "Of course the order won't be spared, but seeing you now, you won't be able to take down the entire Order much less the Olympians"

"What do I do?"

"You need allies"

"Who would be willing to fight with me against the impossible?"

"The ones with no allegiance in this world, with no duty, forgotten by humanity and live as lifeless phantoms"

"The rogue gods" he answered. "Getting gods to serve under a mortal won't be easy"

"Will it?" Achlys smirked.

Achlys kneeled in front of him "I Achlys give my full loyalty to you" The both of them began to glow "To serve you as your sword and shield and protect you with my life until my very soul rots in Tartarus"

To Perseus's surprise, Erika also kneeled in front of him. "I Erika Medici also give my full loyalty to you" her body received the same sort of illumination as the both of them. Erika didn't know why she suddenly professed her loyalty to Perseus. Maybe it was the fact that he was her first real friend, or maybe the way he made her feel. However she did know that she was making the right choice.

Perseus somehow knew that he was supposed to say something at the end of the loyalty oath. "I accept your loyalty, both of you" the glow faded as the oath was made complete. "Stand" Achlys and Erika did as they told.

"What are your orders? My lord" Achlys inquired.

"We need to find and recruit the rogue gods. Any known locations?"

"I know of several locations. Shall I bring you to the nearest one?"

"Yes" Perseus stared at the afterglow of the evening sky. _I will avenge you father…and I will kill the gods._ He turned to Achlys and they disappeared in a swirl of blue flames.

_Letum - roman personification of death_

_Achlys- greek spirit of death mist.  
_

_A\N: Well, this chapter signifies the end of the Prologue. I'm sorry if i made some mistakes in this chapter. I was rushing through it. I know, i shouldn't have rushed. Bad Densha. Review!  
_


	6. Organization is Key

_Heho, fellow reader. I haven't been updating as fast as i want to so sorry. But i have my o' level exams and writer's block. Things has certainly not been going my way. I have some questions that i hope that will be answered here in this chapter. Well, on with the story.  
_

_Densha,  
_

_Three years later_

Wadjet wrinkled her nose in disgust as she let the body she had recently killed fall to the ground. She swung her sword, swiftly removing the blood from it. Her silvery white hair glowed under the moon light and her regal features were contorted into a small frown as she watched the corpses of the Order members pile up on the courtyard of their headquarters somewhere in Egypt. A fire was already burning in the main keep, slowly spreading throughout the whole fortress.

"Are you done yet, Arousio?" the goddess asked impatiently to the figure on top of the wall tower.

"Patience, Wadjet. I'll be done in a minute" the figure replied. Wadjet couldn't see clearly as to what he was doing, but it looked to her that he was tying up some knots.

Wadjet turned to the slim figure approaching her. He had messy red hair and his face resembled that of a troublesome teen.

"Look what I found in the armory" he announced as he juggled a relatively large black six-shooter pistol.

"Seems nice" she commented impassively as she sheathed her own rapier.

The redhead gave a fox like grin. "Guess I'm just—" he took an aim at a nearby partially intact wall "Lucky". He shot at it, the recoil making him fall to the ground on his ass. Wadjet resisted the urge to laugh.

"Yes, you are lucky" the goddess repeated sarcastically "I do not think that weapon will be suitable for someone with your particular… figure"

The red head examined the gun "Maybe I'll just sell it…"

"Isn't the wealth provided by our lord not enough?" she asked in a reprimanding manner. "Besides I do not think that lord Perseus will appreciate you having dealings with… _shady_ organizations"

"Sorry boss" the redhead scratched behind his head as he smiled sheepishly "I just wanted to test my skills in bartering, that's all"

"You're the god of luck, Sors. Not the god of trades" she justified.

"_Yeah_, and I want to test my luck in bartering" he replied. "If I'm really lucky, then I can get twice – no, thrice its original price"

"And what is its original price?"

"Ahh…" Sors thought about it for a moment. "Maybe if I check the shipment list" then he realized that the main keep was already burning. The armory would have probably caught in the fire by now. "Oh crap."

Both of the immortals watched as Arousio pushed a bundle over the edge of the tower. Something fell and stopped almost halfway to the ground. It was a corpse being hanged by its neck. The body of the former Egyptian branch master, stripped down to the underwear. A single dagger was dug deep into his forehead. Arousio jumped from the tower and landed cracking the earth. The tall man was muscular and had a full beard. He carried a golden great axe behind his back. Arousio gave a grin of satisfaction at his deed.

"Did he tell anything?" Wadjet asked.

"No" he answered as he brushed off dust from his shoulder "Apparently after the members of the high order went into hiding, that was the last anyone from this branch has heard from them" Wadjet nodded in regard.

"It seems that nothing is left for us here then" Wadjet gave one glance around the broken down fortress. She shimmered in white light and disappeared. The other two companions followed suit in their own different ways.

…

Wadjet and her partners appeared outside a large grey building. It seemed to be devoid of life. Statues of gargoyles lined up on the edges of the roofs giving a somewhat eerie feeling. Two torches marked the entrance of the building. Mortals we're walking past them behind them. None looked surprised or stunned at their sudden appearance. They didn't even seem to acknowledge the large building. '_The Four Culture Hotel' _the sign above the entrance said. Wadjet went through the door and entered the highly decorated lobby. The room was unsurprisingly empty. No one was behind the reception counter. The piano was playing by itself. Wadjet noticed a familiar individual sitting on one of the waiting sofas.

"Shezmu" Wadjet called out. The figure turned his head around to see who had called him. Shezmu looked like a nineties punk to Wadjet. He looked around the age of twenty and had a spiky green Mohawk and a silver nose ring. He wore a sleeveless metal chainmail with gauntlets and black ripped jeans. Despite his rebellious appearance, he surprisingly respects organization.

"Wadjet" the figure replied as he stood up. "I thought you were already up there. If you hurry you can probably still catch up"

Wadjet nodded in reply and walked past him, leaving Sors and Arousio behind with Shezmu.

"Oi, Shezmu" Sors called out as he plopped onto the couch with a sigh of relief. "Where's Moros?" the red head brought out his gun "I got to show him this baby"

Shezmu gave a low whistle "Where'd you got that? By the way, he said something about playing in the arcade.

"Spoils of war" he answered as he began to walk away from them. "See ya" he gave a weak wave, turned and disappeared into a corridor.

Shezmu turned to look at Arousio who had an almost amused look.

"Bar?" Arousio suggested.

"Yeah, why not" he shrugged. "I got nothing to do anyways" both immortals began walking to the suggested area knowing that both will have nothing to do in the next few hours.

…

The room was lit brightly. Its size can be compared to the size of an airport runway. Multiple platforms hanged from the ceiling, high below the ground. Some were destroyed leaving only chains as the sign of its previous presence. The ground itself was littered with metal wreckage and training dummies, both intact and destroyed. Most of the walls we're scorched and even dented. The place looked like a jungle gym from Tartarus. A single figure stood right at the edge of the crater, with a large black boulder behind his back.

_No, this isn't enough_. Mustering all his strength, he carelessly threw the chromian ore boulder off his back, a good two hundred and fifty meters away. He narrowed his eyes at the distance he had thrown. It wasn't enough. He still wasn't powerful yet.

The other two pairs of eyes who were watching over him seemed to think otherwise. Their lord was progressing at a horrifying rate. Being able to even carry a chromian ore, the size of a boulder, which was considerably denser than steel and very much heavier than it, was a feat that no normal demigod could have done. Even a god would have trouble dealing with the insane weight. A terrible aura filled the atmosphere coming from the shirtless figure. He was greatly unsatisfied with his progression it seems. In a blink of an eye, he focused his rage onto the boulder, closed the distance between it and punched it. The boulder broke off into smaller pieces, spreading all across the ground. His hand trembled in pain, blood dripping off from his fist. The other two individuals looked on in amazement, his show of godlike strength made their spine tingle with slight fear. He was strong, and he was getting more powerful every day.

Perseus sensed their presence. "Honos, Achelois" he called out. The two figures appeared to their master side. Honos looked around the age of thirty. He had a clean military hair cut and two separate tattoos under his eyes, two spiraling blue lines that went across his cheek. He wore a grey military officer uniform with a black overcoat and combat boots. Achelois was a girl that looks around eight years old. She had slightly dark pink hair and she wore the exact same clothes as Honos, only hers had a couple of hello kitty stickers on her front pocket. Despite her cute appearance, she was one of Perseus's personal guards as well as Honos.

"Oh my" Achelois gasped, she grabbed Perseus's trembling hand with care and began to wrap bandages around the wounds. "You should really try to learn to control your powers" she took a disinfectant from her small pouch and sprayed it on some of the more bad wounds. He winced at the stinging pain. "Otherwise, you won't be as lucky"

"Its fine" he responded. "It'll heal"

"Just because you have a fraction of healing powers inside of you, doesn't mean it's useful. Yeah it'll heal you but at the cost of your own stamina. What if suddenly you were exhausted in a fight? Those powers won't be useful"

"That's why I train myself to be less dependent on them"

"The way you're training may be effective, my lord" Honos added "but without also training your power control, it would provide more trouble than help"

Perseus didn't choose to reply at that as Achelois finished patching his right hand.

"There, all done" she announced with a contented smile.

"Thank you" he said as he tried moving his fingers. There was still pain, but it was slowly fading away.

Achelois blushed at his acknowledgment. "No need to thank me lord Perseus, it's my duty"

Honos rolled his eyes. He felt somewhat awkward when she acted unprofessional, which she did a lot when it came with Perseus. With others she was emotionless, sometimes cold towards them. _Especially with _the ones who had a particular interest in Perseus which thankfully wasn't that many, well not many that he knew.

"Where are Caelus and Segomo?" Perseus asked realizing the rest of his guards weren't present.

"Caelus is doing some scouting around the area" Honos answered, but he knew Caelus too much to know that his 'scouting' was probably a careless joy ride or in his case joy fly, to get rid of his boredom. "Segomo is waiting outside"

After Perseus cleaned himself up using a towel, he took his own robes from the wall rack, buttoned it up and pushed the metal doors to the corridor where Segomo was standing idly on the opposite wall waiting for them.

"My lord" Segomo greeted, bowing his head slightly in respect.

"Segomo" Perseus responded.

Segomo was a well muscled man that looked the same age as Honos. He had long flowing dark blue hair and olive skin. He had light stubble and his left side of his face, from his forehead to his cheek, was badly burnt. He also wore a uniform that was identical to Honos. A visible cyan colored gust of wind blew above them. The wind concentrated into a sphere and immediately took the form of a human. Caelus the last of his guards landed on the ground in a kneeling position. His long spiky black hair reached the level behind his shoulder blades. It looked like a dark porcupine was nesting on the back of his head. His red eyes we're almost wolf- like as he looked at Perseus. Taking into account that his four guards were already present, he grudgingly held out his palm.

The four of them understood the familiar gesture as they took positions around him. Concentrating their powers, each of the four immortals emanated their own different kind of light. The light radiated like fire around each of them. Slowly and at the same time, strings of the four lights separated from its source and began to navigate themselves to Perseus's palm. As the strings were absorbed by the palm, a warm sensation took place. Its comfortable sensation slowly changed into that of pain, like his skin was being torn. The pain spread upwards his arm, reaching his torso, then to his neck then it stopped there. His felt like his whole upper body was on fire. The pain first stopped where it first started, leaving behind some sort of red colored pattern on his hand. The relief spread like how the pain had spread. Following the release from pain was the continuation of the patterns on his hand. Soon, most of his upper body was littered with red tattoos of symbols and shapes. Some we're Greek, some we're Celtic and some we're symbols from Ancient Egypt.

Honos rubbed the beads of sweat from his forehead. He almost collapsed during the ritual, the ritual that was meant to seal Perseus's powers. Why? With no high level of control for his high amount of power, he can't use them. If he tried to then the whole place would look like his hellish training area. Until he could easily control his strength, he was bound by the seals on his body. His only liberation from it was when he was training, and that he had to have one of the guards watching over him so he wouldn't injure himself. Honos glanced at the other gods, their condition wasn't better than his. He lost count on the times he felt amazed at Perseus's raw power. It took four gods of different cultures to seal his powers, even which it left them tired. In his current stable from, he still had roughly one- tenth of his real strength, he still probably could fight against a minor god on even grounds, a feat that a normal demigod would have trouble with. Perseus wasn't a normal Demigod. That Honos knew.

He watched as the Greek alphabet Xi appeared on his cheek, the only observable indicator that Perseus's strength was locked away, three horizontal black lines, the middle one a bit shorter. Pulling his hood and with a gesture to follow him, he continued along the candle lit hallways.

…

Erika Medici had grown over the years. Her hair wasn't as messy as it was in the past, now it was elegantly flowing and halting into frilly ends. She now gave more of an intimidating and sophisticated aura, but her fiery attitude still holds. Her fighting skill had improved to when she met with the god Wadjet. She thought her considerably faster than Perseus's draconic way. She had grown taller too, her height almost comparable with Perseus. Her body shape became more accentuated with curves, a head turner she would say. To her dismay and confusion, her development didn't raise any sort of recognition from the hooded idiot that she admired. She was going to change that, one way or another.

Sometimes she would think over the situation that made her come with him. It was some sort of spontaneous decision, made on the spot. Did she regret it? She couldn't say yes. She had nothing left in her old life, choosing to go against the order was more preferable to her at that time. It held future that was full of life and adventure. But she didn't bother at looking at the dark road that follows, only following the distant bright light.

Shaking out of her pondering, she looked around the dark chamber room, where a dozen of gods and spirits we're seated on high thrones around an obsidian table. If she didn't know any better, she would have probably thought it was a sacrificial ritual. She was probably – no, she was the only mortal here. Though for some reason she wasn't afraid of them. It was probably because the others knew that Erika was someone that if they messed with, they had to also deal with Perseus, and no member under Perseus's rule was dumb enough to even try mess with him.

She leaned against a column as she watched Homonoia float around with his legs crossed. He was the Spirit in charge of mental communications between members. Meaning if Perseus wanted to talk to someone immediately, he was the one to establish the link between them. Now however, with nothing to do, his eyes we're closed and he was muttering something under his breath. It was weird, but no one gave a second thought at it. Around the room and away from the meeting area, metal lions roamed as security, if any of the spirit or gods tried to cause some problems, the Lions would bite and scar them into submission. This horrifying security measure was designed by Seshat, and eventually it was used in every property that they owned. The Lions usually would ignore people. They would only act if the person did something that would be considered in their protocol as wrong. Even though their main researcher did make them, the lions could not be ordered around. To Seshat amusement and peculiarity, Perseus was the only one that the Lions obey. The discovery was certainly eye opening for him.

The main doors swung open, gaining the attention of the occupants in the room. Perseus walked in, in a majestic yet menacing way. Like how a lion moves. His four guards or as they would say, the four knights of _Novea Epoch_, walked closely behind ready to act if their lord was in danger. All the occupants stood from their seats in respect. Perseus stopped in front of the table while Caelus, Honos and Segomo took places standing behind him. A black almost robotic like throne emerged from the ground and he sat down. The others followed as he did. Achelois happily took a seat on Perseus's lap. Perseus wasn't at all fazed that the little girl had chosen that as her spot. Over the years it had grown somewhat common.

Honos rolled his eyes, this was he was talking about when he meant being unprofessional. He felt something from besides him, like the urge to kill. He turned his head, afraid it was some kind of threat, only to see Erika glaring at the Achelois. Honos quirked his eyebrow, he hadn't notice her earlier. Either his skills were getting rusty or the girl was getting good.

Erika however was gripping the sleeves of her white shirt and clenching her teeth in anger. She didn't knew where it came from, first an uncomfortable feeling rose up to her chest when Achelois sat on Perseus, then it slowly changed into Ire. Oh, how she would love to stab the girl with her sword right now. Which she probably could, but she wouldn't want to take a chance in enraging Perseus by stabbing someone in front of him. That would be rude. Biting her lip, she reluctantly let it be for now.

With a low sigh, Perseus rested his head on his hand using the armchair. The meeting began.

Firstly it was the financial reports provided by the god Plutus. Erika was there when they recruited him. He was one of the first rogue gods that they brought in. At that time Achlys suggested to Perseus it might be a good idea to have income for their group. Having principal was a good enough idea to take seeing the order was a religiously hidden and international group, ranging from Western Europe to the Eurasian continent. Having a little money could provide them with the needed advantage to go against something as large as that. So every god they came upon that had a related background to commerce was thrown under Plutus.

Perseus faith in the idea however was not misplaced. In a few short years, Plutus managed to establish a well respected company that specializes in the field of agriculture. Now, Plutus's company was one of the most well known companies in Europe, gaining an average of fifty million per year. Since the gods have no other use for mortal money, the income wasn't used for the group was directly sent to Perseus's account. So now, Perseus was the unofficial owner 'Agritech' and had an income of an average football player. But knowing Perseus, he would use every penny he has to fight against the order.

After the reports about the order where in the last few weeks they only managed to destroy three branch headquarters then finally came to the discussion of the Olympians.

"We need to wait" One of Perseus's general gods, Monthu explained. "We cannot risk going in a three way war against the Olympians and the Order at the same time. We need to finish sweeping the rest of them before we could even start to plan against the Olympians."

"If we wait" Another general, Mantus argued. "Then there might be a chance that the Olympians might discover of our existence and we lose the element of surprise"

"I agree with Mantus" Achlys added calmly. "If we do wait then it might prove troublesome for us later on. We should start planning against them right now. Do you agree my lord?"

All eyes on Perseus, he weighed the advantages and disadvantages. "Yes" he answered.

"Alright then, Pontos" Achlys called out. Pontos turned his head slightly to him "You are in charge of taking care of Poseidon in his domain. You'll be attacking first and retake your rightful throne at the sea. After that, Mantus will be –"

He was cut off when Perseus raised a hand.

"What is it, Perseus?" Achlys, his intelligent and cunning commander asked.

"Have you considered all the factors already, Achlys?" he questioned.

"What do you mean?" however it wasn't Perseus who answered, it was Homonoia.

"There is a place somewhere in America, children of gods together and training. Fight the gods and they also will fight" Homonoia stated in a sleepy voice

"Demigods–" Achlys whispered under his breath, the most potentially dangerous enemy for them if Perseus wasn't an indicator for their threat. "…a whole contingent of them. We need to take care of them first" Achlys pondered about it. If the Olympians were still bound to the ancient laws then they might not help if they attacked the demigods first. But if the existence of the gods were threatened, then they might actually fight side by side, Demigod and god. Plus the gods really didn't have a good sheet in following the rules. So it's either to attack the demigods without threatening them which would be hard or… the Trojan horse. An idea suddenly went into mind.

"Fabulinus" Achlys called out getting the attention of the god. Fabulinus was a normal looking god. With spectacles and wore a white shirt, a tie and brown trousers, he looked like a high school science teacher. He was also one of the earliest gods they had encountered.

It was during one of their raids to the Order's hideouts. They had brought Fabulinus along, him, Achelois and Perseus. The fortress was a mess in mere minutes. During their search in the dungeons, they had found a starving boy in one of the cells, a demigod. Abandoned by his parent and made to suffer in that hellhole. Achelois suggested ending the boy's misery with a smile. However Fabulinus at the last second stopped her from doing it. He had begged Perseus to let him take the boy.

Perseus however turned his head and replied impassively _'Do as you wish_'.

Fabulinus was grateful for that every day. During those years, he had taken demigods that we're starving in the streets, abandoned, about to die. Perseus had even provided him a piece of property somewhere in England to raise the unfortunate demigods.

Fabulinus looked at Achlys and understanding went across them.

"How many demigods have you got?" Achlys asked.

"Twelve" Fabulinus answered grudgingly, as much as he was loyal to Perseus, he didn't want to send the ones under his care into war. Twelve demigods to enter the horse, depending on how strong they are, it might not be enough to go against the other group of demigods.

Perseus understood what they we're planning. Carrying Achelois from his lap, he stood up from his throne, slightly surprising the others at his abrupt movement. He turned to the exit and began walking to it. "I'm going personally to evaluate these demigods' strength. If they prove useful then we might go with your plan Achlys"

Achlys nodded in agreement. Without even explaining it to him, he had already come into grasp of the plan. He was smart as he was powerful, a really troubling combination. Fabulinus throat went dry, hearing that Perseus was going to test his demigods. He might have already sent them into danger earlier than expected. He just hoped that Perseus went easy with them. As the doors following Perseus's and his guards' exit closed, the meeting came to an early stop.

A/N. Okay, if you find some of the gods in this story has the same identical duty, i did not made it up, all these gods i got from Wikipedia. There are lots of gods that share the same duty. In the celtic mythology, i found five god of wars. FIVE. So please try not to confuse the gods with the same duties. If there are some resemblance i will state them under, next to their names. Reviews!

_Wadjet -snake goddess and protector of Lower Egypt_

_Sors- Roman god of luck_

_Arousio - A Celtic god of water_

_Shezmu - Egyptian god of execution, slaughter, blood, oil and wine._

_Moros - Greek spirit of doom_

…

_Novea Epoch (New age). Perseus's personal guards. -_

_Honos- Roman god of military honors, chivalry and as one source claims, military justice._

_Achelois - "she who washes pain away", a minor Greek moon goddess._

_Segomo - a Celtic god of war._

_Caelus - Roman god of the sky _

…

_Homonoia- Greek spirit of concord, unanimity, and oneness of mind._

_Seshat - Egyptian goddess of writing, astronomy, astrology, architecture, and mathematics; depicted as a scribe._

_Plutus- Greek god of wealth, including agricultural wealth, son of Demeter_

_Monthu - Egyptian Falcon god of war._

_Mantus -_ _god of the dead and ruler of the underworld, husband of Mania. (Not to be confused with Pluto)_

_Pontos - Greek primeval god of the sea, father of the fish and other sea creatures._

_Fabulinus- Roman god of children, the god responsible for teaching children to speak._


	7. Making a deal with the Devil

_Heho fellow readers. Whew... This chapter went a little bit longer than i intended. Oh well, just consider it a gift from me to you. I like to make a shout out to winter-buzz for the review. I really appreciate it. And to also my other reviewers,thank you for giving me motivation to go on. I would however like to make a special shout out to bilboardcrabs for a rather... unusual way of reviewing. I like weird things. _

Well, on with the story. Enjoy.

Densha,

* * *

Night city life was always something he wanted to see, just below going the beach and seeing the pyramids of Giza. The people aimlessly roamed the side walkways. Dozens of cars drove and honked past by him. There were a variety of shops open, some he even wanted to window shop at. He would have taken the time to enjoy it all, if it wasn't for the large elephant man chasing him from behind.

Lincoln was having the worst and probably the most confusing day of his life, and he had a lot of undesirable events. He always knew that he was a weird child. No, weird was a definite understatement. If he could show his lifetime experience physically to other people, he would have been qualified to work in a freak show, following from having scorched a tree in kindergarten to that unfortunate accident with the chemistry laboratory gas, taking the life of his crush's glasses. By far, the one following behind him had taken the top spot in all of his uncanny experience.

He made the stupid mistake of looking behind. The Elephant man was gaining on him, what surprised him still was that other people seemed to be ignoring the fact that a large tall muscular elephant was rumbling down the sidewalk. They only acknowledge its presence by sidestepping from its way and continuing on their path like nothing had happened. The mist was ridiculously strong to cover something as large as that up. He wondered what the mortals we're seeing. They probably thought it was a clever street performer act.

Why this beast was lumbering after him? Maybe because of his stupid demigod blood he received from his affectionate godly parent, whom he didn't know yet or even met in his lifetime. Hearing the elephant's trunk bellowing from behind, his lifetime might end up considerably short and undistinguished. Ducking into a nearby alley, he had to jump over the occasional garbage bins and crates. He hoped that it might be able to stop it or if not slow it down. Making the same idiotic mistake, he turned his head again only to see that the man elephant lumbering through the narrow alley, using his tusk to remove any obstacles that blocked its way to the unfortunate demigod. Lincoln turned into another alley way, only this one had been a dead-end, just like how most chases ended in those cheesy detective movies. He looked around for an extended ladder or some sort and even thought over going over the tall barbed fence. However it was too late to even take action upon that decision as he spent precious time pondering about it. He looked behind. The elephant man was rubbing its feet on the ground, as if it had step on some gum and was trying to get rid of it. Now that he had taken a good look at the elephant, he saw that it was wearing gladiator like armor and its tusk were decorated with gold plates and chains.

Taking advantage of its momentary stop in charging after him, he glanced around trying to find something to fight the lumbering beast with. Oh how mighty he had looked, facing the monster with a worn baseball bat as a sword and a trash can lid as a shield. He looked ridiculous. He just hoped that if he died like those heroes died in ancient legends, he won't be remembered in the future as the garbage warrior. That would have been fun.

The elephant man bellowed in rage apparently mad, as if to say _'You're using trash to fight me. That is an insult'_. He took the nearest garbage bin and threw it at Lincoln. He dodged at the very last second by slightly bending his upper body. Lincoln sighed in relief but his eyes widen when he saw the brute charging at full towards him. He barely had time to prepare his shield against its attack. Of course, Lincoln didn't expect the shield could even block a fraction of its impact. The force of the brute's charge hitting Lincoln made him fly backwards a couple of meters. He landed on his back. His breath was blown out of his lungs as he sat limply, panting and watched the brute getting closer. Well, this was his unfortunate demise. Not having achieved anything significant in life.

He shut his eyes and prayed. Prayed to every god he knew in Ancient Greek history to let him have another chance in life, to save him from the wrath of the elephant man. He felt someone pull on his collar, hanging him in the air. This felt nothing like a divine intervention of the gods trying to help him, he had expected that maybe they would channel their powers into him, giving him unearthly strength to fight the beast. This was less awesome than he anticipated.

He opened his eyes and he saw his savior. He blinked twice. She looked like a Valkyrie he saw from his history books, complete with Celtic armor and bright blond hair. She looked like she came from a dream of some sort.

Her back was facing him so he couldn't see her face, only her still red cape. He realized he was staring and was late to notice that the pull on his collar was gone. He turned his head to see who had brought him to his feet. He nearly shrieked in surprise.

Lincoln couldn't really tell if the person behind him was a girl or a boy considering his/her body was completely covered. Black sunglasses, black cloak, black leather jacket, fingerless motorcycle gloves and jeans with combat boots, the only thing that isn't covered were his glossy ebony hair. He reminded him of Dennis the bounty hunter from _SpongeBob the Movie. _Add a large cowboy hat and he was good to go. Lincoln decided not to tell the person that, considering the fact that the person clad in black would probably not appreciate the idea of being compared to a cartoon character.

Lincoln looked back to the Valkyrie girl. In a blink of an eye, she took the golden spear from her back and threw it right at the head of the elephant. The spear pierced through its helmet and buried itself deep inside the elephant's cranium. That however wasn't enough to stop the monster. Lincoln took a step back in fright only for two hands to hold both his shoulders to stop him from colliding with the individual in black. He nearly had forgotten about the third person. The hands on his shoulder tighten slightly, as if the black clad person was trying to reassure him. He looked back to the action.

Sparks of electricity flew from the stabbed spear.

In seconds, the elephant trembled wildly as it was electrocuted mercilessly by the golden spear. It gave one last bellow as it disappeared into golden powder, leaving only the golden spear to fall on the ground. The Valkyrie girl picked up her weapon and turned to look at Lincoln.

His heart skipped a beat. The full body Celtic armor reached up to her chin, and she had one of the most attractive serious faces he had ever seen. Her piercing aqua eyes caused him trouble breathing.

"The gods did not answer your prayers" she said. "We did"

"Who…?" he wanted to ask but was cut off.

"No time" she replied sharply. She glanced to her disguised companion. "Mel, let's go"

Mel. That sounded like a boy's nickname right? Before he could put more thought in it. Mel pulled him by the hand and both of them followed the blond girl out of the alleyway. They made it out into one of the least ventured part of the city. The streets were empty and most of the street lamp lights weren't working. An abandoned car lay along the side walk, its windows broken and its tires were gone, probably stolen by one of the local gangs.

He was confused as to why they were rushing. The threat was already gone unless… He looked around as he ran with them. Black blots were moving towards them, at the same time avoiding the lights from the street lamp as they chased them, some on the road and some crawling on the side of buildings. Under the cover of the shadows, Lincoln couldn't really see what was really in pursuit of them but the shear amount of black shapes made him whimper.

The Valkyrie girl turned around and cursed in a language Lincoln didn't understand. She stopped in her tracks but he urged for them to go in front of her. Lincoln could hear the cackle of electricity as he ran past the blond with Mel. He looked behind and saw electric discharging and forming arcs all over the blonds' arms. With a grunt she sprayed electric all over the street. Good news, it fried some of the black crawlers. Bad news, the blue light emanated from the electric webbings made the features on their pursuers visible. It was disgusting. They looked like a skeleton men with thin layers of rotting meat from the head to the waist. Below the waist, they had the lower body of a furry insect that closely resembled a spider.

Lincoln felt like he was in a mutant apocalypse. He would have thought the situation was awesome, maybe with an AK-47, it might be.

Realizing there was just too much of those things to handle, the blond stop shooting electric and ran behind them.

The trio reached an empty parking lot, besides a bank. Lincoln saw a yellow school bus parked at the end of it. It took a few seconds before he realized they were heading for that particular bus. The Valkyrie girl shot the occasional skeleton man that came near them, turning them into nothing but gold dust. The bus door was open when he reached it. Mel forced him inside and the first thing he saw was a kid with curly brown hair in the driver's seat.

Oh, Hades no. Please don't tell me he's the driver, he thought. He couldn't be older than five years old. He was wearing some kind of kiddy Mechanic's outfit. A little green welding mask was placed on top of the dashboard and glued to the sides of his shoes were wooden rods to help him reach the accelerator. That in no way comforted him. Before he could ask anything, Mel had pushed him into one of the back seats. The bus smelled oddly of sulfur.

From the outside, the blond was having trouble with the hoards of mutant insects. "Conrad" she shouted to the kid. "Move now" and so the bus did.

Shooting one last arc of electricity, she jumped into the bus. As the yellow transport gained speed, it rammed into those skeleton insect along the way, making disturbing splattering noises. Then aircraft wings extended from the sides of the bus.

What the hell? Oh no.

He could handle a five year old being a bus driver but being a driver of a flying bus that wasn't even aerodynamically possible. No way in hell. The thought almost made him evacuate both out of the speeding bus and his fragile stomach.

He watched as the blond made way to him with an arrow that was sticking out from her shoulder. Thankfully it only nicked the armor and did no real damage to the girl.

As soon as the bus made top speed, it rose and flew into the night air. How it managed to even lift off the ground, Lincoln didn't even want to know. The knowledge might make him defy physics. Flying in the air, the girl's sharp gaze never left him which made him shift uncomfortably in his seat. Taking out a dagger, she pointed it under his chin. Lincoln eyes widen in response as he tried to back away from the pointy object, only to find out he was already as back to the chair as he could get.

"I-I thought you were the good guys" he stammered, resisting the urge to swallow as the tip of the dagger might just hit his throat. And he rather liked breathing comfortably.

She smiled grimly "That is for us to chose, boy" she added pressure to his throat. "Your name"

"I- isn't common courtesy for you to give your name first?" Lincoln realized the idiocy of what he had said after the words left from his stupid mouth. He was dead.

She narrowed her eyes at him. Lincoln had expected that she might just stab his throat and be done with it. Fortunately, she gave a slight grunt and eventually did give her name.

"Fine point" she admitted but still kept the dagger closer than Lincoln was comfortable with "Tanya, daughter of Thor" she answered firmly.

A moment of silence fell on them with only the sounds of the bus engine breaking it. Any kid could tell you who Thor is.

"What?" Lincoln asked when realization dawn on him. "Thor? Like the one from those old retro comics and in those movies? That Thor"

It took him only a glance at Tanya's frightful expression for him to realize that he had said something wrong.

"Do not make try to compare my _father_ with a fictional character" she hissed. "He's far more dreadful and cold in person, far less Heroic than those theater depictions."

In that moment, Lincoln made a decision never to meet the real Thor, even if it would be a cool experience. If Tanya was this scary to him, her father would be more terrifying.

"No more talk" she stated getting back into topic. "Your. Name." she added a little bit force in each word.

"L-Lincoln White" he stuttered.

"Well Lincoln, we have a few questions to ask before we do anything to you."

'Do anything'. Lincoln didn't like the sound of that.

"How did you found out that you were a half-blood?"

"What?" confused as he wasn't familiar with the term. A thought went through his mind about a particular movie, _Half- blood Prince._ As far as he knew, Harry Potter was still fictional, right?

"Demigod" she rephrased the word so he could understand.

"Oh" Lincoln then explained the dream he had a couple of days back when he was in the orphanage, Flashes of pictures and whispers of words telling him to go to one safe place for people like him, somewhere in long Island.

"Did you get any clues of who your godly parent is?" Tanya asked sternly after Lincoln had finished his story.

"No, I don't even know who my other parent is"

Tanya looked at him as if she was thinking about something. She opened her mouth but words didn't come out.

"Never mind"

Mel from behind Lincoln made a short muffled sound. Oddly enough, Tanya seemed to understand what her cloaked companion was talking about.

"We'll ask you more questions later Lincoln" the way she worded 'ask' made him think that interrogate might be a more suitable word. "Go to sleep" she ordered. He looked at her ludicrously. Did she just force someone to go to sleep?

"But I'm not -" before the sentence could finish. His eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed into his seat, snoring.

…

Of course, nothing is ever easy for a demigod. Even a trip to England feels like a prison transfer. After Lincoln had woken up from his forced slumber, he was interrogated, literally in a small white room with a one way window and nothing to do. Idleness was not a friend for a demigod, considering their ADHD. Just from the plethora of questions he was given, he got a faint idea of what they we're trying to do. They we're making sure that he had no ties with the other Demigods from the camp in long island. No ties with any satyr agents that were stationed in schools. No recent contact with any of the gods. Basically they were making sure he was a fresh and abandoned demigod. Fresh as in recently realize that one is a half-blood and abandoned as in, found in the brink of death.

Why they need someone like him, he didn't know. He was useless both in and out of battle, unless they count in math, which in the world of gods must be above useless, but not by much.

After being asked questions, he was given freedom to roam the place they had brought him in, which was a welcome relief. Tanya said that they were in an isolated castle near the English coast just north of Norwich, which provided them with a relaxing view of the clear cerulean ocean. Usually, Lincoln was not one to admire any kind of architecture but the place was beautiful. The main room was designed like the inside of a cathedral, with fainted tapestries, gargoyle carvings and uneven chandeliers. It looked half built with wooden ladders and scaffolding on the wall. The garden was basically a forest with an open air marbled pavilion in the middle. And Jackpot for him, there was an armory room. It was filled with multi generational weapons from nine tail whips to double barrel shot guns. Too bad there weren't any ammo… or a target range.

That was basically how far he had explored the place until Conrad had popped out of nowhere to bring him into the lounge room.

Meeting the other demigods had been an awkward affair for Lincoln. He just stood there while nine demigods introduced themselves. Unlike Mel and Tanya, they we're normal, well as normal as demigods could get. The only noticeable character out of the other nine demigods was Cassandra. She wore a piece of blue silk cloth over both her eyes. Lincoln immediately noted discreetly that she was blind, but knowing his luck and considering he was in a realm where someone who created alcohol could be made into an important god, he had more than seventy percent chance that his deductions were way off. It was disturbing that all these children had been abandoned by their godly parent. It made him feel sick that someone, immortal or not, could easily throw away their child as if they were spare parts. If they couldn't take care of them then why have children at all. It would have been a more merciful fate not being born at all.

Five of them held Greek blood. He wasn't sure about his yet, but Tanya said that demigods born in the center of civilization, which was America, had a high chance of being Greek or Roman descendants.

Dinner was an unusual experience. At the Orphanage sure he had seated with other kids he barely knew but at least here they didn't serve tasteless crap they call oatmeal. It was during the middle of the feast that Tanya raised her glass of coke.

"A toast" she began "To our new brother in arms. May he live beyond adolescence" Lincoln had no comment to that statement. The toast itself was unnerving, but everybody was drinking so he drank. 'New brother in arms', usually from all the games he had played, that sentence indicated in joining a fighting group. Against what, he didn't know. The situation was too jovial for him to ask that question. Tanya acted so confident that he would have thought that she was their leader but the single empty chair at the end of the table made him think otherwise.

Accommodations were not disappointing. His room they had given was big as a whole apartment back in Florida. A king size bed, a balcony with a stunning view and a killer… book set. Okay that last part disappointed him. Even without dyslexia, he wouldn't even try to pick up a book. Facing numbers of pages scared him as much as hoards of monsters. Numbers he was good at but letters of any language, not so much.

After taking a long needed shower and changed into cleaner clothes that he found in the wardrobe, which coincidentally fitted him fine, he plopped onto the comfortable bed. He gave a small smile as he stared at the blank ceiling. This felt like more of a home to him than any other places he had been, which wasn't a lot. His godly parent can rot at wherever he is. His parent didn't care about him, then right back at you. He won't mind staying here forever…

But fate had to be a bitch.

…

The sounds of alarms woke Lincoln out of comfortable slumber. Red light was swirling around on the wall. Lincoln groaned in response. This had better not be one of those military drills that people had to wake up early and do routine exercises. Looking outside, he could see it was still dark. It was maybe around two to three in the morning. He was about to cover his head with a pillow and go back to sleep when someone barged in with a sword. After seeing tons of horror movies, he knew the situation he was having now had some resemblance to some scenes in those movies. Simply put, it nearly made him pee his pants. But as the figure grew closer he recognized the familiar face of one of the demigods, Damien.

"Lincoln, there's trouble" Damien threw the sword at Lincoln.

"What's happening?" catching the sword by the handle. He would have thought that was cool if he wasn't scared out of his wits.

"Level Three security breach" he replied firmly as he made out of the large room. Lincoln not wanting to be alone followed closely behind him. Damien was a Hispanic looking boy. He was around two heads taller than Lincoln was and much, much leaner than him. He had a flat neat haircut which was a huge contrast to his messy dreadlocks. He was holding a crossbow with glowing arrows as they navigated through the corridors. At night the whole place looked eerie without the presence of light.

Damien would have looked intimidating if he wasn't in his jammies. However, taking a closer look at him, he moved in an experienced gait giving Lincoln a feeling that Damien had spent the longest within the large Castle.

Damien had led him to a large room near the front entrance. The first thing he noticed upon entering the room was the large landscape picture, hanging on the wall opposite of the entrance. Lincoln had realized that he hasn't seen the front door entrance since he was in a sedated state the first time he had arrived her. The double door entrance was made of some sort of metal that literally hummed with magic. He saw Tanya and Mel. They were wearing the same clothes they had on earlier, which brought him to a conclusion that they slept in the clothes they had on now or they were quick changers or they may have not slept at all. The answer could go anyway. Everyone else was much in pajamas, making the whole tense situation look like an innocent sleepover. Only instead of pillow fights and movies, it was deadly projectiles and a phantom threat.

Tanya was near Dyranus, who was busy typing things on a wall console that Lincoln guessed played a part in castle security.

"How does it look?" Tanya asked.

"I don't understand. The sensors indicated an intruder, but nothing in the defense perimeters have been touched. It's as if a ghost trigged the alarms. The cameras from the turrets haven't got crap"

Lincoln swallowed visibly, clenching his sword tightly. He didn't like the prospect of an enemy that they couldn't fight physically much less invisible.

"That's not possible" Tanya denied as she leaned closer to the monitor. "Fabulinus said souls aren't allowed to enter the land. The land has been purified endless times by the Ancient Celtic druids."

She was putting their safety against ghost in the hands of ancient rituals that a few whacky magicians did, centuries ago. The idea wasn't comforting in the least. While an ongoing debate happened between Tanya and Dyranus, Lincoln elbowed Damien on the sides, getting his attention.

"Who's Fabulinus?" he whispered.

"He's our caretaker"

"If he's our caretaker, then shouldn't he be here now?"

"He said he was going out for a few days, he won't be back in two days at most" he explained

"So we're dealing with the problem ourselves."

"Yes" he grinned "Does that scare you?"

"Oh, no" he sarcastically replied. "I'm all ready for action" he stated unconvincingly as he swung his sword valiantly.

Damien gave a small chuckle.

The wall console gave a small static sound and blew up in front of Dyranus and Tanya, producing smoke out from the console.

"Tanya!" Dyranus shouted. "Why did you do that? If you were frustrated at least –"

"It wasn't me you dolt" she responded back. It was clear to Lincoln, by Dyranus's immediate accusation of her after the security console broke down, that Tanya wasn't good with technology. Before they could further their argument, the lights in the entrance room flickered. Everybody was quiet, even when the lights stopped its unstable shimmering.

Bang!

Every head turned to the entrance. A visible dent appeared across the door the size of a watermelon, then another, then another. It was like someone was trying to punch in. By the size of the gouges, it was someone really big. The other demigods made a defensive semicircle around the door. Being inexperienced in fighting and handicapped, he and Cassandra stood back. Not that he mind.

The abusive noise stopped, leaving the metal door in a sorry yet stable state. A deafening silence befell on them, like the calm before the storm. His heart was beating fast as adrenalin pumped into his blood stream. His hand was trembling in fear as he kept his eyes on the door, not believing for a moment that the attacked had stopped so easily. He knew from experience that most monsters were really persistent, hungry for delicious demigod blood. Having thirteen demigods in one place was literally a buffet for them.

"Jumpy aren't you all" Heads turned swiftly to the source of the sound. A man with spiky black hair and wearing a dark green overcoat, was standing on the upper portion of the wall just above the framed picture, while his head looked up to them. It was as if gravity had stopped working on his whole body and attire. Another hit to the laws of Physics.

"Sorry about _barging_ in the middle of the night" he apologized insincerely "But orders are orders, you know" he shrugged. His composed attitude about the whole situation made Lincoln sweat.

"Who are you?" Tanya ordered sounding angry and also a small hint of curiosity, Curious as to how this person had made it past the security that easily with only triggering one alarm, which she was starting to believe that he did it on purpose.

The man gave a feral smile. He jumped from the wall and landed smoothly on the ground. Gravity was thankfully back working on him, but that didn't make him any less threatening.

"Caelus, god of the Sky and Fourth _Equitem _of _Novea Epoch" _He introduced himself, giving a mocking bow.

Tanya scolded herself. Of course it was a god. Nothing else could have gone through their defense perimeters that easily. But the question was what was he doing here? And what the hell was Novea Epoch?

Lincoln was however scared and a little bit excited. Caelus was the first ever god he had ever seen. Fortunately, the feeling of curiosity was suppressed by dread, which he was greatly thankful for. If curiosity did get the best of him, he may just vomit out questions until he got killed. A perfect case of 'Curiosity killed the cat'.

"Do not worry ladies and gents" Caelus said as he scanned across the room, eyeing each and every one of them. "I am your examiner for today"

_Examiner, _that word doesn't sound dull as it seems.

"So, how are going to do this? That One-on-one fights crap or are we going all out?" No one had the slightest as to what he was talking about. But that didn't stop them from reading an attack.

Tanya gave the order to fire, unleashing a hail of arrows through the air, while Tanya herself threw her spear. Tanya gave a smirk but it soon disappeared when he saw the god wasn't making any effort in trying to avoid the arrows. He just stood there as the arrows and spear went through him like thin air. Caelus looked behind him at the arrows that were impaled in the wall with slight interest. All of the demigods looked on in shock at the fact their arrows not making any damage.

"I'll give you guys, two marks for preparation and two marks for taking inceptive. Now let's see about your fighting" With his hands in his pocket, he crouched slightly and jettisoned to his first target. Gabriel received the head butt of the century, throwing him to the metal door and effectively knocking him out. Caelus then kicked Damien sending him flying to the wall. The god wasn't even merciful to Conrad as he took the kid by the head and threw him away. Lucy, a blond haired girl, swung her Halberd right at the god. Being too quick, Caelus grabbed the pike before it hit him, picked her up and slammed her on the other side of the ground.

_Four down._

Dyranus tried to sneak up to him, but before he could reach the god. Caelus disappeared into the ground. The next moment, ghostly hands from the ground gripped tightly on Dyranus's shoulder. The hands pulled on him forcibly, and he trashed onto the floor.

Appearing out of the ground between two other demigods, he thrust both his hands out at both of them, letting out two sharp pressurized gusts of winds that blew them both a few meters away to the ground. Dayrena, another demigod, took a horizontal slash at Caelus with her gladius. He, in a blink of an eye, manifested his own weapon using the wind and they both cross swords. It took him only a couple of exchanges until he kicked her away.

"Variety in weapons, flexible, I like that. I'll give two more marks"

_Eight down._

Mel tried to fight the god using celestial bronze knuckles which was really brave of him. After dodging two complete punches, Caelus, grabbed his head and kneed the poor demigod into unconsciousness.

_Nine down._

"Fabulinus really thought you guys some stuff. I thought he was always boring" He said as he breathed out tiredly. "You've got me sweating"

Tanya, in a fit of rage, grabbed her spear from the wall and charged straight at him. Caelus dodged every jab the girl did at him, but he was having a hard time catching up to her increasing speed. Taking advantage of a momentary pause, he flicked the spear away using his wind sword. Not wanting to waste time to take back her sword, blue arcs developed on both her arms and she began fighting with electricity.

Caelus sneered. He wasn't good at fighting against that. Letting his sword disappear, he dashed to the girl's spear. As soon as he got his hands on it, the girl smirked. His eyes widen as waves of pain coursed through his body. He immediately threw the spear right at the girl's direction. The spear managed to cut through her shoulder, despite the armor, leaving a particularly terrible wound.

Tanya hissed in pain as her hand went to the injured shoulder. She cursed herself for forgetting the enemy. Her head snapped to ground level only to see a combat boot about to make contact with her face.

Caelus looked down at her. She was the toughest fight yet. His body was still trembling from the electric shock that would have been strong enough to kill a normal human. He turned his head to the last two conscious people. One was blind and the other was in front of her with an iniquity look wand his sword drawn. The boy seeped with much killing intent that Caelus could almost feel it.

Somewhere during the fight, something snapped at the back of Lincoln's mind. A raging feeling grew in his chest, replacing all of his fear with the intent to kill. He looked malignantly at the god, what he did was inexcusable. He wanted him to hurt. He needed to hurt. And hurt badly. At the pit of his anger, it was as if another entity had taken over his body. His clothes slowly morphed into full body Greek armor. His normally brown eyes shone with bright light, as if it was on fire.

Caelus looked on in disgust. "A child of Apollo" he noted. "I haven't seen one channel Apollo's rage since I killed Tychus. And that was centuries ago in Macedon"

Lincoln wasn't fazed at the revelation or that he managed to call forth some unearthly powers, but he did felt the rising concern of Cassandra.

"Stand back" he said to her. Cassandra just nodded in response and took a few steps back. Lincoln somehow managed to produce a glowing hunting bow out of thin air. He pulled the string back and an arrow appeared, with its tip blazing. Hell yeah, infinite ammo.

Caelus frowned. He had experience fighting the sons of Apollo that could channel the power of the sun, enough to know that he couldn't win a fight of attrition against them. They were archers with an unfair amount of arrows and only their hands were doing the job, they won't get tired easily. He needed to end this quick or else he'll be in real trouble.

He hardly dodged the first succession arrows. By the third succession, an arrow got caught on his overcoat and it slowly went alight. Removing his coat to prevent himself from burning, he dashed at Lincoln with his wind sword and aimed a slashed at him. Lincoln blocked using the sturdy bow. The good thing is that Sons of Apollo aren't that good at fighting close quarters. They prefer fighting from a distance using their skills in archery. So after getting close to him it was just a matter of trying to knock him out, which he did with a roundhouse kick to the face. Caelus sighed in relief. If he had trained more, then Caelus wouldn't have been certain that he could take the son of Apollo down. He had always _hated_ Apollo.

He looked down at the son of Apollo and growled. The boy had ruined his coat. He pulled his feet back but before he could kick the boy again a voice stopped him halfway through.

"Caelus" Segomo shouted his name. Caelus, with raging hatred in his eyes, turned his head to look at the bald man. Besides him was Fabulinus, who looked like he wanted to puke after seeing all the fainted demigods.

"What is it? I thought this was finished until I had my fun" he said with an irritated tone.

"You've had your fun" Segomo insisted as he looked around the entrance room "Besides, I do not think that Lord Perseus would appreciate you injuring the other demigods more than necessary"

Looking down to Lincoln's body and clicked his tongue. As much as he wanted to, angering Perseus was the one thing he never wanted to ever experience. Caelus turned and began walking towards their direction. Fabulinus took this as an okay for him to rush to the nearest demigod which was Mel.

Fabulinus almost didn't hear the small sound of a scared Cassandra asking a question. "What's going on?" Fabulinus gave a low sigh.

"I'll tell you all about it later, when they regain their consciousness" _It'll be easier that way._

…

Fabulinus had a hard time bringing the demigods to the infirmary and tending to their different injuries. He had an even harder time explaining to them what had just happened.

Lincoln tried to focus on their caretaker's explanation, but a raging migraine and tons of questions in his mind made it hard to even clearly take account of what was happening inside the room. All he heard was slurred words that he couldn't make sense of before someone gave him something to drink.

It was warm and delicious. The taste was something he couldn't accurately pin down, but something told him he ate something with similar taste before. Sustenance déjà vu, that's new and _not _weird at all. It took him a few moments to realize that a conversation was going on and a few more moments for him to comprehend a whole sentence clearly.

"We could have easily died!" Lincoln recognized Tanya's voice without a single doubt.

"Tanya, I couldn't have done anything. If I disobeyed…" An unfamiliar calm voice responded to her.

"This _Lord _of yours would have sent you to Tartarus or whatever you call it in roman?" She finished. At that moment, Lincoln had regained his vision so he could see who the daughter of the thunder god was talking to. Tanya was looking well considering the fact she was kicked in the face and a spear went through her shoulder earlier. She was out of her armor and in normal looking clothes. However, that didn't stop her from looking fierce as she did always.

Besides him, Dayrena stood while holding an empty glass, smiling warmly at him. He returned the smile and thanked her for helping him drink… whatever did he drink?

"Listen, I'm sorry to a to have kept you in the dark about him but over the years there hasn't been any reason to tell you about him"

"So what, was all these years under your care a façade, a trick?"

"NO!" Fabulinus replied forcefully. He realized that he had shouted. Regaining his composure he resumed in a lower tone. "No" He looked up. "I care deeply for you all like my own children. But I owe him my life. You all owe him. All the food, clothes, shelter, all of those came from him. If it wasn't for him, none of us would be here right now"

Tanya gave a sour look as she crossed her arms. She couldn't really say anything against that. But the one thing that she didn't like was owing to someone. And she owed this 'Lord' a lifetime. That's was a big dept, a dept she wasn't really sure she had the capability to pay back.

Standing up, Fabulinus turned his head to Lincoln.

"Ahh, the newcomer" He began walking towards Lincoln. "I'm sorry about the rough night… and the late introductions". He held out his hand "I'm Fabulinus, your caretaker."

Lincoln diffidently took his hand and introduced himself.

"I must say you've arrived at a really bad time" That was an understatement. "But all's well" he said as he clapped his arm reassuringly. He gave an uncertain smile. What in hell's world was going on? At first, he was really close to understanding what he had got himself into, but one unwilling turn in events and the unfinished conclusion he froze in his mind came crumbling down. He really shouldn't try to organize information into his mind if the info changed as randomly as the wind changed direction. It had a detrimental effect to his rational mind. It was like trying to make a plan that included more than a hundred unknown and constantly changing factors, plain Impossible.

"So, what happens to us now?" Tanya asked as she came closer. "What does _he _want?"

"The downfall of the Olympians" A low voice answered her from the doorway. He had a body frame suited for stereotypical bodyguard with bald head. He wore the same type of dark clothes as the devil god that trashed them earlier did. With just that fact alone, they all went tense and readied for another possible 'examination'. The room was silent as the hulking man moved near Fabulinus. "That's what Lord Perseus's aim is." The man stopped and sent an incomprehensive look at him. Then the man turned his gaze onto Tanya. "Daughter of Thor" then shockingly to Lincoln "Son of Apollo" he regarded them both. "Perseus wants to see you"

Lincoln wasn't sure what was surprising. Knowing he was the son of the god of light and poetry or the fun fact that the person who had someone crazy as the sky god under his command had summoned him. He couldn't help but feel that he was being sentenced to the gallows, and not for an educational visit. Even Tanya looked pale and that didn't help one bit in reassuring himself. On the bright side, he discovered the parent who had abandoned him in the streets. How the muscled man knew, he couldn't come up with an answer. What happened during the fight? He blacked out in the middle of it and woken up hours later on a stiff cold bed being served unknown liquid that he wasn't even sure that it was a hundred percent safe.

He was brought out of his thoughts when Fabulinus prodded him on his shoulder. The man and Tanya were already out of the room.

"Go on then" he said. "Wouldn't want to keep him waiting?" he gave a warm smile, but something told Lincoln that it was forced. As he ran towards the door, the other demigods wore grim looks, 'Dead man walking'. Forcing the negative thoughts out of his mind, he continued on. He was going to live.

Of course that resolve didn't last long. As they navigated through the eerie corridors of the least explored part of the castle, a dreadful felling grew in his bony chest and butterflies formed in his stomach. He wanted to puke.

"Hey, big guy" he blurted out the beginning of a desperate conversation due to his anxiety. Tanya looked at him as if he had spurted wings. He wasn't so sure what would happen. Worst case, since his boss wanted to see Lincoln, he wouldn't hurt him anywhere that could prevent him from talking to this Perseus, so it would either be a loss of one eye or ear.

Fortunately for him the man replied in a less threatening manner than he anticipated. "Yes"

"Just out of curiosity here, who are you?"

The man went silent for a short and scary while before answering. "Segomo, god of war" He gave a brief introduction. His body frame and aggressive aura did fit in the job descriptions of a god that was based on mortal conflict.

"Whoa" he exclaimed. "I thought Ares was the god of war" Even if she wasn't in his line of vision. He somehow knew that Tanya was rolling her eyes.

"_Ares_ is the Greek god of war. I am one of the Celtic gods of war"

"One of, as in there are more?" he asked skeptically.

"The ancient Celts we're a more violent type of people unlike the Ancient Greeks. They were divided into tribes and each tribe had a patron god of war. I was Gallic"

Lincoln gave a confused look. Tanya seeing his expression, explained it to him.

"Gallic, the people of Gaul" She justified. He however still had the same look. "French descendants" she simplified.

"That is of a former life. Gaul is long gone and extinct. I serve now as third _Equitem_"

That word again. "What's that actually? I heard that from that crazy god, something about _Novea_ –"

"_Novea epoch_ is the name for lord's Perseus's personal bodyguards." He continued. "Caelus and I serve as fourth and third _Equitem, _The terms for the members of _Novea epoch._"

"So how many are you guys?"

"Including Caelus and me, there are two more" he turned his head slightly towards them "You'll be meeting them soon" Great, there's more of them. However normal and comforting Segomo had been. He might just be the only one that he could talk to without the threat of being injured.

They arrived in front of a set of metal doors that Lincoln was unfamiliar of. To him it was like looking at the doors of hell, knowing what was behind it. He looked to Segomo to who gestured them to go in first. Wanting to get this over with, Tanya went through the doors first. The first thing he felt as he went through the doors was the heavy hostile atmosphere. It was a thick scent like sea water, only this wasn't as calming as he would have liked. It was layered with a nauseating malice that the only thing he wanted to do was run away to his bed and hide himself under the mattress, not blanket. Suddenly, the idea of facing the elephant man with those skeleton insects was more welcoming than walking into the room. He felt stupid for being scared of all those horror movies he'd seen. This felling was exponentially scarier. Even Tanya had stopped her confident gait.

He unfortunately saw Caelus sneering at him at the corner of the room. He dragged her thumb across his neck in a menacing manner. Tearing his gaze away from Caelus, he looked to the other occupant of the room. He looked like a military sergeant, only with tattoos under his eyes. He gave a calculative glare at both of them, as if searching for a suitable spot to stab them with a knife. Tanya and Lincoln walked past him warily, feeling his back quiet vulnerable to his drilling stare.

Both of them stopped as they saw two people, sitting on a table made to have breakfast, besides a window that had a view of the grassy hills. One of them was a little girl with pink, whose legs didn't even reached the floor. He would have thought she was cute if she wasn't wearing a dark overcoat that resembled the other three members of _Novea Epoch_. She was an _Equitem_, just freakin' fantastic.

The other was the one who was emanating the offensive aura, so much that it seemed to solidify into shadowy wisps that flew all over his body. Lincoln didn't even realize that he was trembling. He wore a black hood and was facing out the window. His attire was different from the other four in the room. With the scary aura, it was safe to say this was Perseus.

"A son of Apollo and a daughter of Thor" Perseus regarded them. "An unlikely pair, don't you think" He turned his head towards them. Tanya and Lincoln had hoped that they could see his face, but with the lack of artificial lighting, both of them could only see traces of his mouth provided by the moonlight. "But then again, unlikely things are always the likeliest to happen"

"What do you want with us?" Tanya herself didn't even know how she managed to mumble that out. The girl sitting down perked her head up, hearing the small hint of disrespect towards her master. Putting a hand to her head, Perseus calmed her down like a loyal cat.

"Simple daughter of Thor, I offer you positions within my army as Lieutenants"

"What? Are you kidding me? You need us to be in your army? From what I see, you don't have a lack in fire power" she gestured to the Sky god, Caelus.

"That may be true but demigods are more… versatile than gods. I need more flexibility within. The gods in my army are more of a main square fighting force than what I've intended for you" Lincoln didn't know how, but he knew that last part was directed especially towards him.

"Then use other demigods" she responded.

"See here, you demigods are more special than the others because no one knows of your existence. You have the makings of a good stab in the back"

"You're asking us to spy?" she narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Maybe" Perseus rested his head on his hand using the table. "I won't force you to join in my cause, nor would I force you out of this castle if you refuse–"

"Then I refuse" she turned around and began walking to the entrance.

"Even if it means throwing away the opportunity of getting revenge upon your father" It may have been a trick of the eye, but Lincoln saw the edge of Perseus's mouth twitch into a small grin.

Tanya stopped midway to the door, clenching her fists. "What are you saying?"

"I don't intend to stop halfway, daughter of Thor. The Norse gods will be crushed as well as the Olympians. With you aiding me, vanquishing Odin and his_ sons_ will proceed more… smoothly. Getting revenge would be sweet, wouldn't it?"

"…Yes" That was the only answer Perseus needed. Lincoln didn't know what the deal was between Tanya and her father, but after hearing the conversation, his curiosity almost got the best of him.

Perseus turned his attention to unfortunate Lincoln. He shifted under his gaze. It was suffocating. "Son of Apollo" Perseus regarded. "You have not lived long enough to experience the god's atrocities. I am a living evidence of their heinousness."

At that time Lincoln was trying to focus on something else either than him by wracking his brain for any sort of idea who this Perseus guy might be. There was a Perseus who had slain medusa, but that was ages ago. That Perseus wouldn't be alive… wouldn't he?

"It doesn't matter. My plans for you will help shed light. If you pledge your loyalty to me, that is"

Lincoln felt as if he was signing his life away to the devil himself. He didn't have a solid reason to go in his army. He could refuse and stay here in the castle, safe and sound…or, the more curios part pondered. He wanted to know what had made Tanya distaste her own godly parent and more importantly he wanted to know how the gods shaped someone with an absolute hatred towards them. At this, curiosity did get the best of him.

"I… I do" he responded.

"Then–" Perseus stood up "Son of Apollo and Daughter of Thor, I grant you the rank of Lieutenant and the title of 'Knight of Delta and Knight of Tau'

Honos came to them holding three goblets, and handing one to each of the demigods. Lincoln and Tanya were reluctant to drink at first but after Perseus took a sip of his, they both followed suit. A warming sensation coursed through his arm. At first, he was afraid that the water was poisoned but after pulling up his sleeve, he noticed a tattoo on his forearm. It was a black triangle, the symbol of Delta. He looked to Tanya to see she was searching for her own tattoo. A blue capital 'T' appeared on her bicep, the symbol of Tau.

"You now serve me" Perseus turned to Segomo. "Can you thoroughly explain the plans to them?"

"I wouldn't pose a problem, my lord" he replied.

"I trust your judgment. Meet us later Segomo"

Segomo did nothing but nod in response. The little girl with the flowing pink hair suddenly took hold of Perseus's sleeve and the next thing he knew, he and the rest of _Novea Epoch_ disappeared into thin air. The oppressive aura that invaded the room, slowly diminished. It soon returned to its original neutral atmosphere. Segomo turned and exited the room with the knights of Delta and Tau in tow. Lincoln thought about the last words that Perseus had spoken.

'You now serve me'

It sent chills up his spine and he wondered… wondered whether he had made such a good idea after all.

* * *

_A/N: Lots of new OCs. I hope you guys can keep up, it doesn't stop here. Be warned. _

_Demigods_

_Lincoln - son of Apollo, Lieutenant to Perseus. Knight of Delta_

_Tanya - daughter of Thor, Lieutenant to Perseus. Knight of Tau._

_Others_

_Equitem - knight (member of Novea Epoch). _

_Odin- The "All Father" (The Ruler of the Norse gods). Swallowed by Fenrir_.

_Thor- Norse God of thunder and battle. Killed by Jormungandr._


	8. Storm is Rumbling

_Heho, fellow readers. Wow, I haven't updated in a long while haven't I. You can thank my habit of procrastinating for that. Ever since exams I've been hell of a lot busy also. As always i can't really tell answer anything that would spoil the story and to one of the reviewers, I am so sorry. If i try to limit the gods to only Roman and Greek. I would have a serious headache trying to rewrite the story and thinking up new plot lines. _

_Well in any case, enjoy the story._

_Densha,_

* * *

Sleep didn't come as easily as he would have like now days but then when it did ever. Every night, the voices still came and haunted him deep within his dreams. The number of needles that he impaled into his neck grew daily, like a growing addiction to a masochistic drug. It was a troubling affair for him. Even the other gods can't do anything to sooth his vicious nighttime exploits.

"Guilt, my lord" Achlys explained to him from a small, chess table. Both of them we're currently in the den connecting to Perseus's bed room. Since his forced insomnia wouldn't allow him a night's rest, Perseus would mostly spend his time in the den rather than his bedroom.

Perseus looked out into the night sky, a feeling of dread creeping up to him. "What do you mean?"

"The voices you suffer each night, they're triggered by guilt" he said as he rearranged the chess pieces on the table.

Perseus wanted to deny that but Achlys had a knack of being right.

"Guilt" Perseus tested, the word was alien to him as many other words that involved emotions.

"You've killed from an early age." Perseus cringed. His past actions in the Order were personally unjustified until the recent years. Even though he knew he was practically brainwashed to kill, it still didn't remove the fact that he had killed innocents. Lives ended under his sword at an age where usually the hardest thing to do was to pass up homework in school.

"Your point?" he asked skeptically.

"You've developed a killing instinct, albeit a controlled one, before you grew a conscience. Of course the byproduct of that peculiar chronological set of events is the feeling of guilt" Achlys looked to Perseus's contemplating expression. "Don't worry my lord, it just shows your human".

That was the problem wasn't it, being human. He couldn't start to feel remorse for killing. He was leading hundreds to war. Innocents were bound to die, both from his side and the other. He needed to be a cold-hearted demon if he wanted to go through with this. He needed to kill his human side. He couldn't let emotions get in the way of his goals, even if it did destroy him in the end.

"Agritech's starting to expand towards the Americas" Achlys noted as he placed a black bishop towards the white side, threatening a white rook in the process.

"Knowing Plutus, we'll get more than just a financial beachhead in America" Perseus said as he took a glance at the chess board. Perseus knew that Achlys was a crazed chess player. Achlys understood the pieces well enough to sometimes use chess as a rough guideline in his more intricate planning sessions, like what he was doing now.

"Isn't that supposed to be a good thing?" Achlys asked rhetorically as he moved a black knight to fork the white queen and the rook.

"The demigods" Perseus guessed the piece's representation.

"It could be." Achlys turned his head towards him with an amused look "Care for a game?"

Perseus didn't even know why he bothered. Achlys had been playing the game ever since it was created during the middle ages. Even though he knew he was going to lose, he would always welcome it. Somehow a rare game of chess between him and Achlys always manages to calm him down. Perseus kept looking at the attacking knight that represented the infiltrating demigods. The black piece was surrounded by the white pieces, even though the knight was in an advantageous position, if it didn't move in the next turn it was dead but if he took the rook or the queen, it would still be dead. It was a sacrificial piece, he thought. Just like the Greek demigods will be. The situation would be more or less similar on the game board as it would be in reality. The realization disturbed him.

The daughter of Thor and her contingent would have the assistance of the other gods while taking on the Norse gods in England but due to its different situation in America, his inexperienced knight of Delta and his group would expect the least help from his gods.

Achlys noticed the slight uneasiness etched on his face, a face that he was all too familiar with.

"Are you worried about the demigods?" Achlys asked.

"I'm more worried about the gambit that they're in. They fail, and the Olympians will have time to fortify their positions and making it harder for us" Perseus answered flatly. Achlys sighed as he picked up the black king. He should have expected a typical answer from him.

"Are you familiar with the story of the Trojan horse, Perseus?"

He scoffed in response. Of course he knew the story of the Trojan horse. It was one of the largest skirmishes in the ancient world. It was also one of the first wars where the Olympians stood divided on both sides of the war, the Trojans and the Greeks. The war was an early indication that a simple menial act of mortals be it of love or revenge, can drive the gods apart and create weaknesses that tend to go unnoticed under their gaze. It showed that they weren't untouchable even in the fair graces of Olympus.

What Perseus didn't know was why he was asking the obvious question. Wasn't the plan based on the story?

"Well" Achlys began "During the Trojan war, the Greeks had leaders that based some of the many different personalities of kings. There was Agamemnon, the power hungry king that led the Greeks to the walls of Troy. Menelaus, the arrogant king whose pride and his inattentive behavior towards his Queen led to the beginnings of the Trojan War. Odysseus, the clever king of Ithaca, who came up with the idea of creating the wooden Horse" Achlys placed the black king back on the board. "And there was Achilles"

"Achilles was a man that stood under no flag. He had neither country nor king to serve. He was a man on his own. As his friend, Odysseus managed to convince Achilles to join the war against the Trojans. He was the beacon of the Greek army. He was a born fighter and a leader who fought with his soldiers side by side unlike the other kings who watch the battle while they stood on chariots and by that act alone he was looked up to more than the other kings. He was a living morale booster for the Greeks by just his presence on the battle field. I'd say his only flaw would be his defiant attitude. He desecrated the temple of Apollo and killed his Priests during their attack on the beach of Troy, which I think brought him to his uncanny demise"

"I thought his death was brought upon the love sick prince, Paris" Perseus stated.

"A direct shot to the heel, from a man that had never picked up a bow in his life. Don't you think his abrupt talent in archery wasn't a mere coincidence?"

"Apollo helped him someway" Perseus answered after giving a bit of thought.

"Precisely" he paused. "But we're going off tangent here. My point is Achilles was always one of the first within the front lines. He even volunteered to be in the horse. Do you see where I'm getting at?"

"You want me to go to this demigod camp?" Perseus asked disbelievingly as he realized what Achlys was talking about. He was their leader, he has no time to play spy in a camp filled with demigods. What was Achlys thinking?

"I wouldn't be surprised if you did. You and Achilles share a lot of similarities. Abundantly so, that I could have sworn you were a reincarnation of Achilles himself, except I don't believe in renascence."

"So me and Achilles are similar, that doesn't mean it's still a good idea" Perseus retorted.

"No, it may not look like a good idea but rather than having a knight alone, how about having both a knight and the queen behind enemy lines. In that, if the plan was somehow compromised we can assure full destruction of the camp and leave only Olympus as our main concern"

"You're using me as insurance are you" Perseus raised an eyebrow. "You put too much faith in me"

"But I know it's not misplaced" he insisted. "I know I expect much from you Perseus, but you have to understand that you are the leader here, gods and spirits under your care look up to you. I shouldn't expect less"

Perseus grunted. The conversation reminded him of the heavy burden he brought along with the need for vengeance. Even he shouldn't expect less from a perfect performance from himself. One wrong move and it could be the end. He was strong, yes. But even with the help of the other gods, he couldn't fight against the Olympians head on in terms of power. Even he wasn't that stubborn to think he could take on the full wrath of the thirteen most powerful gods. That would be close to suicidal.

But the more he thought of infiltrating the demigod camp, the more he felt it was a good idea. They could swiftly deal with the demigod threat while at the same time secure a staging area for the attack. As much as he personally hated the idea, he couldn't deny the fact it had merit. Achlys was right, but then when was he ever wrong. Besides it might be interesting having a live view of other demigods.

"Of course the decision is yours to make –"

"Oh shut up Achlys. I'll do it" Perseus cut him off.

"Well then" he gave a wicked smile. "Now for the fun part, we have to choose a school for you to apply in"

It took him a few moments to comprehend what his advisor just said. "What?" he asked sounding apprehensive. "Why do I need to do that?" he argued.

"Homonoia has been keeping an eye on the camp. He told me that the camp has survey system using satyrs to keep a look out for demigods. The Satyr agents in different schools would disguise themselves as students or members of the staff until they found a demigod by tracing their scent. And after that, the satyr would then bring the demigod to the camp. So as you see, most of the demigods were brought in by these satyrs. It would be suspicious if you came across this camp by yourself would it?"

Right again.

"What about Lincoln and his demigods?"

"I've already relayed the information to Segomo. Right now I think they're choosing suitable areas for the six demigods. That way it would raise less suspicion than if they grouped together in one school"

"What about security measures for the demigods? They already know of their Greek blood. Monsters would surely pick up on their scent."

Achlys thought about it. "We'll assign the _Anthousai_ to shadow their movements. They should be enough the cover the demigods amplified scent. With their own natural smell, the _Anthousai _wouldn't raise the satyrs' suspicion. I'm sure that _Chloris_ won't mind"

"That would be a reasonable idea" he said, nodding in agreement. After a few moments he sighed in frustration at his decision. Sure normal children his age right now would be in school. But he wasn't one bit normal. School had nothing to offer him. He couldn't learn to fight mythological monsters in school. He wasn't a socialite, which was one of the general requirements in school filled with adolescents. He was already rich, probably one of the youngest entrepreneurs in the world. Academically, he was even smart having been taught literature, pure sciences and arithmetic from a young age as part of his training to be a killer. 'A smart man lives longer'. One of the basic principals drilled into his head from when he was in the Order, a principal which he still resentfully applied to his training.

Achlys chuckled at Perseus's thoughtful gaze towards the chess board. Perseus frowned at him.

"You're having fun with this are you?"

"I can't say that I'm not, _Achilles_" he teased light-heartedly.

"If I'm Achilles, then you must be Odysseus" he countered.

Achlys gave a small smile towards the window as if he was sharing a joke with a ghost, which he probably was doing considering he was the spirit of the death mist.

"I wasn't really fond of the king of Ithaca"

"Why is that?" Perseus asked curiously.

Achlys turned his head back to Perseus, a serious look plastered on his ageless face "He didn't die"

…

Two weeks was definitely a diminutive time to prepare for migration to another country. It was definitely hard to apply to schools at end of a semester but with the powers of mist manipulation and under the influence of a tiny bit of wealth it was slightly easier. Since Agritech didn't have any observable connections to Perseus's group of gods, they had use sponsorships to those schools that were almost impossible to get in. Perseus was actually grateful that Plutus was persistent in business as he was now. It sometimes made things much easier if they had the power of money besides them. If he wasn't wrong, Plutus had already managed to get a firm financial grasp on American soil, now that was something. He probably won't stop until he got Bill gates working for him, even if the both of them was in different fields of businesses.

On the day of the separation of the Demigods, they gathered in the Norwich castle for a briefing of the oncoming assignment.

They got together in a large room that was probably used as the throne room before it was abandoned and sold to the highest bidder. The room was divided into two floors, first the ground floor where they were now in and the other floor was a balcony curled along the walls so it could provide a full view of the ground floor. The balcony was supported by a number of decaying wooden columns which made the demigods afraid to venture into the upper balcony. In the middle of the room were a couple of wooden benches probably used for feasts and royal parties. A fading red carpet went across the room from the entrance to the feet of the elevated floor for the throne. The Throne itself was built in stone and was slowly crumbling in its deplorable state.

Sitting on one of the wooden benches, the knight of Delta eyed the tattoo on his forearm intently. When he was still living in Florida, he would occasionally see people on the streets that had tattoos all over their body. At first he taught it was cool and he even considered of getting one. But after getting the symbol of Delta on his arm, a mix of emotions raged within his mind. Not what was he expected.

He wasn't sure about the symbol, he felt like sacrificial cattle that was painfully marked by hot iron. Maybe he was just an expendable pawn in the eyes of his new lord. He can't say that he liked the idea of that.

But on the bright side, he was given a place in the world, a slightly uncanny family and for the first time in his life, responsibility. All of it wasn't something he'd expected in his life, but at least it was better than the previous life he was in. Significantly better than the previous hell left by his father, Apollo.

Time to time, the thought of his father would cross his weary mind and it always left him angry and needing something to vent his stress on. He didn't know precisely why he was angry with the sun god, maybe his leaving his son to die or abandoning him in a crappy orphanage or maybe he was just angry at him in general. And the sick part of this whole thing was it didn't happen to just him. Apollo wasn't the only god to throw his children away. The other demigods were an indication of that.

He was brought out of his negative thoughts when a hand grabbed hold onto his shoulder. Lincoln turned his head to the owner of the hand. Tanya gave a thoughtful look as if she knew what the other was thinking about. Over the past two weeks, Tanya had insisted to train him personally as knights in arms. He couldn't say he very much enjoyed the experience. He could swear her training exercised muscles that he didn't even know existed in human anatomy. But at least now he wasn't abysmal with a sword and shield.

He looked to the other Greek demigods, in conversation with the demigods that were going to stay here. Bundles of backpacks grouped together on the nearby bench. The atmosphere was almost sad.

Fabulinus was standing near the entrance, his brows furrowed into a worried expression. Worried about what? There were so many possibilities that Lincoln couldn't specifically narrow one down. Besides him was a girl that he was certain he hasn't seen before inside the castle. Judging from how the other demigods didn't give a second thought about the newcomer means that she was someone that all of them were familiar with.

Her hair was a light shade of blue and her skin was pale white. She wore white robes that made her look like a model of those Greek statues he once saw. It took him a few moments before an answer came to his mind.

"Mel?" Lincoln muttered incredulously with eyes widening. His deduction of her gender was way – way off. Embarrassingly, Tanya heard him mutter the girl's name.

"Oh yeah" she said emotionlessly. "That's your first time seeing her without all that black, right"

He nodded with his mouth slightly open. He should really learn not to be surprised about little things such as that. He was in a world that wasn't supposed to exist. There were much more things worse than mistaking a girl for a boy. In his defense, she was wearing rather boyish clothes and the fact that she was covering her whole face probably did add more to the confusion. It was a simple mistake anyone could have made. Looking at Mel's pretty face, he wondered why she would possess the need to cover up her looks. He felt it was such a waste. He however decided not to dwell on it. Sometimes the trouble of going through to get answers was just not worth it. Even two weeks of demigod experience was enough to know that.

The quiet chatter of demigods was silenced as a girl with red hair entered the room.

…

Erika Medici was not mad per se. She, despite her fiery nature couldn't get mad easily. She considered mad a more intense emotion of a word to use. She would preferably use 'angry' rather than 'mad'. She insisted more than preferred. So technically getting mad was harder for her to do than getting angry. Hell, getting angry was like a weekly routine. She didn't know whether it came out of being subtly provoked or it was just mood swings. She would like to think the former.

But one thing was for certain, there was an exception to the mad- angry fiasco. One person sure knew how to tick her off way past the angry region right into no man's land. Perseus is what she liked to call her 'detonator' for the unstable bomb which was her. From the day she met him- no, from the first word he uttered out to her, it was like the guy was playing with the button, pushing her just on the edge of blowing up which in turn made her frustratingly angry which was worse than just being normally angry. Sure he wasn't intently making her angry. Heck, she _had _no reason to be mad at him. It was just the way he spoke it that she herself seemed to notice.

Or maybe it was just a textbook case of the attraction of opposites, North and South. North talks and South immediately comprehends it as loads of crap. Personalities clash so much that one can't handle the other's company even for a few measly seconds. Or in her case, she couldn't handle his company in a particular way. It was just a one way rule of attraction she supposed.

She of course wouldn't deny the she was attracted to him. There was nothing wrong with liking him. He was attractive in a dark and cold way, like how those stoic intelligent villains had looked like. She had always had a thing for bad guys or in her case now, bad boys. Who didn't like bad boys, other than teachers of course? Besides, Perseus played the part too well.

Then the thought of the filthy god that was always around Perseus came to her mind, _Achelois_. She clenched her teeth. The way she clung around Perseus made her sick and green. She was like a cat in heat, meowing and hissing the shit out of her. Oh what Erika would give to have that irritating cat lose all her nine lives on a far away barn?

It was situations like this that made her grateful that Perseus had the sexual motivations of a sponge… Well, only slightly grateful. She shook the hormonal thoughts out of her mind. She wasn't going to go as far as to degrade herself to the levels of a rabid fan girl. She had more pride as a warrior than that.

The day when Perseus finally did push the detonator however happened last week. That morning it was just supposed to be a normal training session. But instead, the idiot told her about his stupid plan to go with the Greek demigods and the great news is that she didn't have any say in all of this. She had almost throttle Achlys if it wasn't for the presence of Perseus and the rest of his personal guards. She wasn't just saying this, she could fight Achlys. She prided herself as one of the only mortals with the martial prowess to take on a god, the inauspicious after effect of having trained under Perseus which made some of Perseus's gods afraid of her.

Now however, she was tasked with the irksome job of briefing the unfortunate demigods that were going to infiltrate the camp just because she was the only one with a mortal touch. It was true, but that mortal touch had probably rotted and died a long time ago. The last normal experience she had was at a KFC. And that was around a year ago. She personally felt more mystical rather than mortal.

She gave a frustrated grunt as she eyed the demigods lined up in front of her. They looked greener than she would have liked. They probably haven't even seen a proper battle up-close. The word rookies left a sour taste in her mouth. And that's one more thing that irked her. Sending greens into an unexplored warzone was just a plain waste of potential manpower. She wasn't that fond of the concept of the Trojan horse being in part of all this. But she couldn't deny that it wasn't completely pointless. It did have Perseus's approval, and he's anything but dumb that's for sure.

After a brief informing of the demigods of what they were to do, some sort of portal appeared besides her. No one seemed to be addressing the fact that a blue halo appeared on ground level next to the red head. Sure… just a normal occurrence. The knight of delta was really amazed that he wasn't that all surprised of the sudden appearance of the cerulean portal.

"Okay, greens" Erika called out getting the attention of the demigods. The blue light from the halo illuminated her regally wild face. "This will be considered a covert operation. After landing in your designated locations, follow the orders to the list. Come up with your own back story. I don't care how, just be creative about it. And lastly, you don't know anybody. Don't acknowledge your teammates."

Erika took a cold glance towards the knight of Delta. "You" she called out. "You're the leader of this squadron and by your title. It will be designated as delta team while the other demigods will be under the knight of Tau and vice versa"

Slowly, six wispy figures appeared behind the red head. All of them were floating just above the ground as visible multicolored strands of wind encircled their building bodies. The room was slowly filled with the smell of grass, dirt and an assortment of flowers, a smell that closely resembled that of a typical garden. They really couldn't tell the difference between their genders. They had almost the same body types, slender and frail. Their faces were etched with unveiled curiosity, as if they haven't had the chance to see demigods up close.

"These" Erika began "Are _Anthousai," _She gestured to the floating figures behind her with an impassive look. "They are out shadow corps. Meaning they are responsible for the secrecy of our organization and covering our tracks, in other words, our first line of defense."

"Since you all have already known about you distinctive bloodline. Your smell is immensely amplified. Their jobs are to nullify that and keep you out of harm's way. So be nice to them… They're really sensitive" One of the _Anthousai _made a face at her when she said that to which she replied with a frightful glare.

"Okay-okay, now let's get a move on. Are you all ready?"

"Why are we using a portal?" one of the demigods asked.

"Zeus control's the sky and Poseidon the seas" Erika answered flatly. "We can't risk going into their domains. It raises the chance of being detected. Don't worry" Erika looked to the blue portal on the ground. "I can assure you that this is _mostly_ going to work. Alright, c'mon go"

The _Anthousai _made a quick choice of who they were going to be with and immediately flew to their partners' sides. One by one, the pair of demigod and _Anthousai _jumped through the portal. The last one to go was the knight of Delta himself. He looked hesitant to jump through it. Not because of its questionable stability, but because of the world on the other side and what it meant. It was going to ugly and he didn't like it one bit. His _Anthousai _looked at its partner oddly. Its pupil less glowing eyes, wide and pure, stared at him.

Before he could jump however, it was the red head that stopped him.

"What is it?" The inexperienced knight asked cautiously.

Erika gave a cold glare. "Listen here, Knight of Delta. The sheep doesn't get blamed if it makes a mistake, it's the shepherd. And in this case the shepherd is you. If you so make one little mistake or show any signs of betrayal…" She stopped there, not ending the sentence.

"I got it" He replied

"I don't think you do understand the gravity of the situation…" she stated.

"I think that's enough, Erika" Tanya joined in. "Let him go"

"Knight of Tau, did you like the title that he gave you?" Erika turned around to face her. "It's been a while hasn't it. How've you been?" She asked in a cold manner.

"Fine… You've grown taller"

"I don't think insulting your commanding officer will do you well in the future would it?"

"Commanding officer" she stated skeptically "please…"

A simple backlash of words suddenly turned into an intense staring standoff which made the Knight of Delta feel a little bit out of place. Erika, who seemed to realize that Lincoln was still standing beside them, unmoving, suddenly turned back towards him.

"Are you still here?" she inquired.

Before he could reply however, Erika took a small gentle hop and kicked him on his stomach and into the blue portal.

…

"Twenty branch headquarters lost. Over ten thousand members dead and five thousand have gone missing, blasted deserters." Bartolommeo looked exasperatedly on to the regional leaders of the order. "I have never seen such incompetence in my life. Our adversary is a mere boy and yet he managed to cripple our forces in Europe! Now he's wrestling for control on Egypt, and you mean to tell me that we have lost it already"

"Let us not forget that this boy was trained under the eyes of Adonis" Philip, one of the high order member responded calmly.

"And he has even managed to procure a small army of gods, that even with our most profound scryers. We are still not able to locate their positions." Another said.

"I do not care that he was trained to be a killer nor that he has an army of gods in his beck and call. This order was made to fight gods and I have witness much embarrassment that I have ever seen in years acting as one of the high order"

"And you think that your subordinates caused all this" a new voice interrupted them.

The regional leaders spread out to allow the high order to see the source of the voice. A group of twenty men clad in golden armor and attire with faces obscured by their golden helms as they stood in formation in the middle of the council chamber. The one in front was the one who seemed to do the talking. Unlike the others in the golden group, his face was not veiled. He looked to be around his late teens and he wore the same type of armor the other men were wearing. He looked on impassively towards the high council order, with his golden eyes and pale face making him look regal and feral at the same time.

"The golden cult" Bartolommeo addressed. "What business do you have here? Shouldn't you be out there, fighting?"

"That attitude again" the boy responded unemotionally "It's a wonder how this order is still on its feet"

"Hold your tongue boy. Remember who you're speaking with here"

"Oh, I do fully realize who I am conversing with. A couple of useless old men who know nothing but to bicker pointlessly among themselves"

"You-"

He cut him off _"And_ while they argue, the order which they have vowed to lead and protect is falling into pieces around them" His golden eyes shone wickedly at them. "I feel that's more than enough to suggest a change in leadership." The rest of the golden cult brought out their swords. "You, my lords, are asked to remove yourselves from your seat of power"

"A coup d'état, what is the meaning of this?" he shouted as the golden cult soldiers began to close in. "Guards!"

"We have already taken care of the guards. There's no use in shouting…" the boy replied.

Bartolommeo, along with the other high order members looked on throughout the number of regional leaders that stood nonmoving.

"What are you imbeciles doing?" Phillip questioned them sounding daunted. "Don't just stand there, stop them!"

"The others have made their decisions, my lords" the golden cult leader responded in the absence of the regional masters.

"This is treason! I'll have all your heads for this" Bartolommeo moved to touch the ring on his right pointing finger, only to discover it was gone. "What?"

"Were you looking for this?" The boy held up an obsidian ring between his fingers.

"How did you…?" he asked, with fear creeping slowly to his heart. He turned his head slowly to look behind him. "Letum…" he breathed out as he recognized the familiar figure.

"I did promise that I'll kill, didn't I" without a moment's hesitation, Letum lunged towards the high council members, body shape morphing into a something of a dog. The sight of him brutalizing the old men was covered by the presence of the table, but it did nothing to cover the sounds of agonizing screams and limbs and flesh being torn apart. The boy however paid no heed to the disturbing noises but instead turned to address the regional leaders of the order.

"I thank you, my lords for taking a stance besides me."

He was greeted with mumbles of agreements.

"We stand with you, Captain" one shouted. "All hail, Lucius, descendant of Nero"

And the rest followed his chant. The trembling sounds of men shouting echoed throughout the dark chamber room and to the cold hallways. Lucius looked on with his facial expressions unchanged. This simple act of overthrowing useless men was nothing to celebrate about. It was just the first step into the war against gods and not just the rogue ones. But first, before all that could happen, he had to take care of the traitor's son. Perseus will have to die.

…

It was an hour or two after midday in Bar Harbor. The sky was cloudy, signaling that rain was going to fall. The sounds of fighting were heard in a nearby alley besides a closing bakery shop. A boy in a school uniform had his head planted deep into the bricked wall. A couple of the school boys were already unconscious on the ground. One was inside a bent trash can. A hooded figure brought up the fifth boy near to his veiled face by pulling on his collar. Under the shadows of the alley the boy couldn't really see his face, but even if it was the case. He hasn't clearly seen the other's boys since he first started at Westover hall. He would always have a hood over his head, even the teachers didn't seem to care that he was wearing them through class. He and his friends thought he was just an emo seeking attention and made the decision to beat him up on that.

Oh boy, how deep in shit they were?

It took him less than five seconds to knock the five of them out. He didn't saw it coming both literally and figuratively.

"Look, I'm sorry" he apologized desperately as the hooded figure brought him up, hanging just above the ground. "It was just a harmless joke, that's all" The hooded figure's eyes glinted through the small darkness, making the boy nearly pee his pants. "Please, we won't bother you again. I'll give you money". He begged.

The only response the hooded figure gave was to throw the boy to the nearest wall to join his friend. Without a moments waste, he turned around and walked out of the alleyway like nothing had happen, leaving behind five unconscious bodies.

"Chloris" The hooded figure said out loud gaining an 'eep' from a nearby mailbox. From behind the mailbox a head with greenish hair popped out. Its wide indigo eyes were staring daggers at the hooded figure. "What?"

"I'm really against violence, lord Perseus. You didn't have to go that far with those boys"

"Then why did you join my organization?" Perseus responded as he continued walking. "And what's with hiding behind mailboxes?"

She stood at full height with her face completely red. Her greenish hair had a variety of flowers stuck on the end. She was wearing faded baggy clothes with a large peace sign on the front and a pair of loose jeans.

"That's not the point!" she responded as she tried to catch up to him.

"They were troubling me" he answered.

"Still, I don't think its nice beating up those boys. They were harmless… well, to you at least"

"You don't think it's 'nice'." He repeated. "You sound like a pacifist"

"What's wrong with loving peace? It's… cool. Besides I'm a nymph, we welcome peace"

"You do know that you're in a revolution that's not hell bent on peace do you?"

"Yeah, I know, but would you rather just have mindless warmongers on your counsel all the time, it's good having different opinions in the counsel… peaceful opinions." Chloris emphasized on the last part.

They both walked silently side by side until thunder rumbled and rain started to fall. Perseus's dorm was half way across town and he decided to so go inside a local pastry shop to shelter from the rain. It wasn't really crowded, only a business man on a table near the window and two girls from his school who were currently gossiping about something useless.

Perseus began to move to the nearest empty table but Chloris had other intentions. She immediately went to the cakes display. After eyeing every piece of cake there was on the display rack, she turned around with wide begging eyes and drool on her across her jaw.

"Fine, I'll buy you some"

So he and Chloris spent time waiting away the rain. After devouring three cakes in a row, Chloris finally caught enough breath to ask him a question.

"Sooo… Any clues to who our man is? Goat-man that is"

"I have my suspicions" Perseus stated.

"I think it's that guy Darren" She guessed as she took another bite.

"And why is that?" Perseus questioned.

"The way he walks…" she paused. "He walks like a goat"

Perseus sighed. Chloris however continued eating away.

"Did he approach you yet? This Darren guy" she asked.

"Once or twice, in the hallway, he tried to make me talk with him. There's three weeks left until the semester ends. If reports are accurate then this satyr will grow desperate in trying to get me to this camp."

"Three weeks is a lot of time"

"Not long enough to gain people's trust. Unless he brings out the demigod story in one go, in hopes I'll believe him and follow him to long island."

"You will?"

"Of course, although disbelieving as it seems I will have to act dumb in the next few weeks after school is over, feigning ignorance to facts that I have long known" He looked out the window to the sight of the rain receding. "Finish up. We have to go"

…

Annabeth Chase was seriously not having the time of his life. She was supposed to be teaching Greek literature to kids. 'Supposed' being the key word, there wasn't any to teach. They all decided it might be fun to just skip lessons and play canoe or volleyball. The best part is, it's not even summer yet. When it does come, the number of kids is going to increase three fold at the minimum. She was a daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom. No one skips lessons with her. No one…

She was actually on her way to complain to Chiron about the campers' lack of dedication towards learning when Luke Castellan caught up to her. She turned and couldn't help the blush growing on her cheeks. He was tall compared to her short figure. His hair glistened under the sky, making him look like he was a golden statue

"Hey, Annabeth" he greeted. "Where're you off to?"

"To the big house"

"Is something wrong?" he asked concerned.

"No, nothing big, just wanted to ask Chiron about something. What are you up to?"

His charming smile made her heart skip a beat. "Just wanted to tell you that I found your missing peeps"

"What?"

"Yeah, I was teaching earlier to my regulars when a couple of extra heads showed up. I decided to be the good guy about it and let them be"

Annabeth gave a frustrated grunt. "Well, that's fine if they're learning something useful either than wasting their time. But be sure to tell them to expect a really deadly punishment"

Luke chuckled "Will do cap'n. You still heading to the big house"

She nodded.

"Well, don't want to keep you waiting. See ya." With that, Luke turned around and jogged back to the arena.

Annabeth stood there for a few moments in a daze watching the retreating figure of the head counselor for cabin eleven. It took a few more moments to realize she was staring and continued on towards the big house.

On reaching the front porch, she saw Dionysus staring on to a pair of cards in his hand. On the table was a can of diet coke and a few more cards spread across the table. Looking around, Annabeth saw no signs of the old centaur.

"Mr. D." she called out getting the god's attention. "Where's Chiron?"

Dionysus looked around the porch lazily. "Oh my, it seems our centaur is gone." He said flatly. He was hoping for some kind of reaction from the girl but she kept a serious face. "Oh, c'mon, can't a god joke once in awhile?" He took a sip of his diet coke. "What's your name? Annabelle? Annie?"

"Annabeth" she answered.

"Yes… that." He paused. "Chiron has taken a house call to a nearby school in new York. In simpler terms, he went to teach to that school"

"What? Why would he do that?" she inquired.

"One of the satyr stationed there reported a unique demigod. Chiron went there to see for himself."

A demigod that Chiron himself had to go and see? That wasn't usual at all? Over the years, she had only seen satyr brought in demigods and Chiron himself preferred to stay on camp grounds if possible. It might be something big having to force the centaur to go there himself.

"What's so unique about the demigod?"

"My, my you ask a lot of questions. But I suppose that is expected of a daughter of Athena. But besides that, I'm not sure you can handle the information"

"Try me" she challenged

"All right, but nothing I say now, leaves this table. Got it?"

She nodded ferociously at the promise of information.

Dionysus gave a sly grin. "A daughter of Poseidon"

…

A/N I just had to stop here. Haha.

_Chloris - nymph goddess of flowers. (Patron of the Anthousai)_

_Anthousai - flower nymphs_

_Dionysus - Olympian god of wine._

…

_The golden cult was a brotherhood founded by Emperor Nero (AD 37 - AD 38) during the apex of the Roman Empire because of his hatred to the gods for killing his parents. The secret brotherhood was formed solely to fight the gods but due to the Roman gods having a high standing within the Roman Community, He could not act against them directly in fear of having face the wrath of the SPQR. In that time the Golden cult only consisted of people Nero had direct contact with, which is why the Golden Cult mainly consists of the Praetorian Guard. However, the Golden cult didn't developed fully until after they've come across powerful men with the same agenda, which was the Order. After its full integration into the Order's rank, the Golden cult mainly served as Vanguards of the Order. But because of its draconic recruiting system, they haven't had more than fifty of the Golden Cult at a time. _

_Lucius, the captain and leader of the Golden cult is believed to be a direct descendant of Emperor Nero. After having fully taken over the Order, he now leads one of the largest anti - god organization ever to have known to the world. _


	9. Inductions and bets

_Heho fellow readers. Okay this took a bit longer than i thought it would. I'm changed school's recently and i'm still trying to adapt and all that crap. __Okay about the parings, i haven't thought about it yet. Since i find almost every girl in Percy Jackson attractive. Maybe i should do a poll. What do you think?_

_Oh and to SnowTime. No he isn't cross-dressing but you did give me an interesting idea. So thumbs up to you._

_ So without further ado. Let us go on with the story._

_Densha,_

* * *

"What?" Annabeth Chase shouted in surprise.

"Quiet down" The camp director silenced the shocked blond as he took a cautious glance around the porch for any stranded ears that may have heard upon their conversation. "Are you trying to incite a controversy? Use your brain, daughter of Athena"

Annabeth blushed in embarrassment that she was just insulted by the wine god on her intellect which children of Athena should have an abundance of.

"Poseidon has a daughter" she sounded aghast. "…But when?"

"Around a decade ago, my uncle fell in love with a mortal woman. He cared for her so much that it left him devastated when she died." Dionysus gave her a solemn look, a look so rare appearing on his face that it very much surprised her. He sighed "After that and a few more…" He paused, as if trying to choose his words carefully "unfortunate events. Poseidon has come to greatly care for the girl. He even had some of his court members go to land just to make sure the girl was safe"

"That's why Chiron's not here?" she noted. "To make sure she makes it here safe?"

"Yes, I sure hope so, she's Poseidon's child. It won't come to me as a surprise if some hungry beast already caught up on her scent. The sea tends to have a more alluring smell to monsters." He stated impassively.

Annabeth stood silently in thought. Another child of the prophecy had appeared. The thought of that brought her to Thalia and that thought sadden her. She immediately turned backed her attention to the camp director.

"It's almost dinner, child of Athena" He stated as he looked back onto his hand of cards, taking a sip of his diet coke. "I need to finish my game". He made shooing gestures with one hand. It would have been more convincing of its importance if the game had consisted of real players instead of only him but she decided not to voice her opinion.

With a turn, she headed towards the direction of the cabins with a deep thought in mind. The summer was going to be lot more interesting than she thought it would. But whether it was good or bad, she couldn't decide on that, though it was rarely good for demigods.

…

A quiet humming noise filled the silence of the dark room. The curtains were drawn to prevent anyone from trying to peek inside in the room. For what was happening inside it wouldn't be properly comprehended by any mortal mind.

"The other demigods have already made contact with their satyrs."Homonoia reported to her leader. "Three have already integrated within the Camp. Two of them were attacked during their journey, though no one was injured fatally. The possibility of attacks on other demigods before reaching the camp is still high."

Perseus sat at a nearby chair with his hood pulled back. He took in what his main informer said quickly. The other occupant of the room, Chloris was floating just above Perseus trying valiantly to revive a dead plant that she had found on the way to Perseus's dorm room.

"It's risky having the Anthousai leave the demigods' side due to coming in contact with the satyrs. But it will have to do. We won't want to risk compromising the mission. But just as a precaution, have the Anthousai follow the demigods to assure safety if something does happen." Perseus ordered to which Homonoia nodded. "What of Tau squadron?"

"Tau squadron has remained mostly idle. Some of them have participated in clearing branch headquarters in isolated parts of England"

"Any progress towards Odin and his gods" He inquired.

"No, Odin has kept the Asgard community in tight lockdown. The only way to deal with the Norse gods now is a full frontal assault"

"But the problem is we don't have a large enough army to fight Odin's army" He speculated

"Yes, the other generals have already voiced their opinions upon the issue. It will take more than our number of gods to break through Asgard's tight defense, even if we are powerful. Achlys has been working to find a suitable enough army to suffice our manpower needs but so far he has made no immediate progress towards it. Seshat is trying to design a mechanized army following the same concept of our security but it may take a few months at best."

Perseus held his chin using his thumb and index finger and contemplated about the current priority of having an army. Gaining one right now isn't really important of a task but in the future, an organized military may be of great use not to mention making the fights to come unfold in an even field. Mortal mercenaries are out of the question, having an undisciplined rabble that's blinded by the mist may prove to be a nuisance rather than much of a good use.

"Achelois and Honos have been acting unusual my lord, they've been restless" Homonoia stated.

Perseus sighed knowing well what was causing their distress. "Tell them I have been fairing well here. It will not be a temporary suit to change. Just have them help Achlys or Seshat anyway they can. I can't have my own personal bodyguards standing idle and not doing anything productive in worrying about me"

"There's also have been suspicious reports on the Order's movements, my lord"

"Explain" he ordered.

"They've been abandoning their fortresses, my lord. Each one that we have raided recently has been devoid of any life. And inside sources told me that a coup has happened within their ranks"

"So those old bastards are dead, huh?" He deduced

"That seems to be the case. But we do not know who has taken its reins"

"Whether this change is good or bad for us, we can't be too sure" Perseus looked back to the goddess "Thank you for the information, Homonoia. Make sure the rest of the members keep a head up. We can't afford to lower our guard at this critical time"

"Yes my lord, I'll relay the message to the rest" the goddess paused "Good luck, my lord" With that she left in a spiral of gentle wind.

"Sounds like you have a lot on your plate" Chloris noted. Flying down and setting the dead plant on a study desk.

"This is nothing" He answered referring to his problems. "The real stress causer comes later" He sighed in relief as he laid back onto his chair.

"When's the last time you had a good sleep?" She asked sounding worried at the circles on his eyes.

"I can't remember…" He replied. "Nor does it matter" He said as he stood up yawning. "I don't care that I can't enjoy a night's sleep as of late"

The 'casual' conversation between the god and demigod came to an abrupt stop when someone knocked on the door.

"The Satyr" Chloris warned her leader. Perseus nodded in response. With that Chloris floated centimeters above ground level and disappeared completely into thin air. Opening the wooden door, he was greeted with the sight of the satyr in disguise, fidgeting and smiling awkwardly at Perseus.

"Hi there, Percy" Perseus grimaced at his given nickname but the expression went unseen by the tense satyr. Darren glanced quickly to the left and right as if somehow a monster might just appear right around the corner of the hallway "Can I come in for a while? I kind of need to talk to you"

"Sure" Perseus opened the door wider so Darren could go in. He walked - he looked more to be hopping rather than walking - quickly inside the room. Upon stopping in the middle of the room, he sniffed the air indiscreetly.

"What are you doing?" Perseus asked, though it was more to Darren's benefit so it wouldn't raise suspicion.

"Oh, nothing" He stopped realizing what stupid and cover-blowing thing that he was doing. "Was anybody in here lately?"

Darren was a guy that was around a head shorter than Perseus. He had tan skin and brown curly hair that hid his tiny little horns. He always walked with a slight limping gait. He would always be caught wearing baggy jeans and a baseball cap, even during class. He was considered an unusual character around school and was even sometimes bullied because of that, most of the time he was normally ignored. He was even jumpy at times, as if he was scared that he would be the next subject of bully. It wasn't mostly true, the sudden appearance of hungry monsters also contribute to the fact.

"No" Perseus replied simply as he closed the door behind him "I've been alone since morning" he lied simply to the unsuspecting satyr.

The reply didn't seem to ease the poor half-goat. Instead it only looked to do the opposite. Darren however choose to calm himself down so to not to alarm the other occupant of the room.

"Never mind then" the satyr replied. "Say Percy"

"Hmm"

"Do you have any plans for the summer?" He asked cautiously, greatly hoping that the other would say he was free for the holidays.

"I appreciate the offer Darren but I'm not attracted to guys" he joked.

"W-what?" the half-goat stuttered as he came to realize what the other had meant. "No! I don't mean it like that" He grouped around his pockets until he pulled out a single card and immediately gave it to Perseus. The card read:

_Darren Stand, Keeper_

_HALF-BLOOD HILL_

_Long Island, New York._

'Half-Blood hill' Perseus thought 'This must be the address of the camp then'

"What's Half-blo? –"

"Don't say its name!" Darren interjected. His eyes widen in realization that he had shouted at him. "What I mean is" He began "That's the address for a camp"

"A camp for what?" he asked.

"W-well" he stuttered. "The school has this summer wilderness camp program thing and they're encouraging people to join in"

"Huh, I didn't recall the school announcing this" he gestured to the card.

"It's unofficial" the satyr lied.

"An unofficial school program" Perseus rephrased in a skeptical manner. "That doesn't sound legit"

"Oh, no, no, no" Darren denied vigorously "This is one hundred percent legit"

"So…It's absolutely legit but not official"

"Yes" he answered as he a sweat rolled down his cheek. He really hoped that this obvious lie can get through to him "So, you down?" Darren resisted the urge to face smack himself for his way in asking him.

"Well, I have nothing against nature" he stated. "And I have no other plans for the summer, so why not?"

Darren breathed out a long sigh of relief and wiped the sweats off his brow. He looked as if he had just successfully dismantled a bomb on the last second.

"When is it?" Perseus asked regaining the satyr's attention.

"When is what?"Darren blinked.

He brought out the card and waved it in front of him. "When are we supposed to go there?" he repeated the question.

"Oh, that" he scratched behind his head. "The last week before summer, the school's holding a festival. If you want to, we could go before that"

"Isn't that considered truancy?"

"Heck no" he waved at him "Lots of people go home during that time. The festival isn't that all to riot about, you know what I'm saying"

"I feel like I'm obligated to say so"

"Boy" The satyr exclaimed. "You sure do use a lot of big words. Oh well. So, we go next week then?"

"Sure" Perseus answered as the satyr made his way out.

"See ya next week then" he gave a thumb up before closing the door. He sighed heavily as soon as he was sure that Percy couldn't hear him from the inside. "Man" he said as he noticed that his t-shirt was drench with nervous sweat. He was sure he made a couple of blunders earlier. No, 'a couple of blunders' was simply an understatement. But the satyr convinced himself that it was his smooth talking that saved his cover from being blown. "I should work for the CIA"

…

"He would die if he somehow worked for the CIA. No, Tortured first then die" Chloris said as he reappeared out of thin air, floating back steadily to the ground.

Perseus held a smirk of amusement as he placed the card onto the study desk.

"And what was with the whole making it hard for him. Was it even necessary?" She asked as she took a look at the address card. "Darren Stand? I swear I heard that name before?" she mused out

"It's called feigning ignorance, my dear flower goddess" he explained as he looked out the window. "And it's my first move on the board"

"So does this mean I'm going back? It's so boring with nothing to do" she pouted.

"Don't worry Chloris" She turned her head to him. "You'll still have to stick with me until next week. With my scent, only you can cover it. I may have some work for you to do back at head quarters" She sighed sounding frustrated. "What?" he asked, afraid he might have said something wrong.

"Nothing" she simply replied to which he only shrugged in response.

…

The week pass in a rather relaxed pace. On the first day of the school festival, Percy was already on bus with a rather agitated Darren on the way to New York.

"An eight hour ride" The satyr stated to himself nervously. "That's an awfully long time to be on the road" and more chances for monsters and flesh eating creatures to suddenly come out for their meals. Darren took a careful glance at Percy and took a discreet sniff. Since the morning, his smell was growing at an alarming rate. It was thick and somehow alluring, an intense smell that shouldn't even be possible on a normal demigod. It was a 'big three' smell that caused the satyr distress. With a smell that strong, it'll be attracting monsters at a ten mile radius.

Three hours on the road felt like an eternity to the satyr expecting an attack. He was somehow surprised that they didn't encounter a single monster along the way despite the fact that Percy was oozing a smell that should have attracted an enormous number of monsters that could possibly rival the number of monsters that a single harmless phone call to the local pizza parlor would attract.

And he was more surprised that how Percy was acting. Usually a long trip like this with nothing to do would have been considered hell. But he was looking calm and collected. Patience, now that was a trait quite rare to be found on a demigod. He really was different.

The bus made a short stop near Portland where Darren met another one of his kind, doing a retrieval mission also.

"Gio" Darren called out happily. "I never thought I would be so relieved, seeing you out of camp"

Gio gave a small laugh. "Darren" he patted the other's back. "It's so refreshing seeing one of my juniors doing his work" The older satyr looked behind Darren. "Is that yours?" he gestured to the hooded figure near the window.

"Yeah" he answered "Where's yours?"

Gio motioned to the person that was just getting on the bus. "Chris" he told Darren his name. Chris was a Hispanic looking guy with black hair and chocolate eyes. He had distinct sharp facial features and a lean figure. He wore an ultramarine jacket and worn out jeans. He looked like a typical misunderstood teenager.

"Good luck with him then"

"I'd say you need the luck more than me" Gio looked back suspiciously to the hooded boy.

Both satyrs took a seat next to each other while the other two boys took different seats. The bus was empty except for the four of them, the bus driver and three other people. "Is it safe having two demigods in the same place?"

"The minimal quest group is always three so the group wouldn't attract monsters…but I'm not sure" he said as he took a seat. "Yours… his smell, you haven't told him about his lineage already?"

"No. I'm curious about that myself. It's been like that since the morning… and it's still growing"

"He smells like a… god"

"That's not possible, isn't it?"

"In this crazy world, everything is possible my friend and it's our job as sane people to give some sense into it"

"Who said that?" Darren curiously asked regarding the quote.

"I did" he simply answered while smiling.

The rest of the trip went smoothly, with both the satyr introducing their respective demigods to each other. Well, it went smooth until the bus camp to an abrupt stop at a police road block.

"Should we just continue on foot? I don't feel safe in the middle of nowhere" Darren said as he looked around. The bus driver had dismounted to talk to the police men guarding the road block about what was going on.

"Let's just stay and see" the senior satyr replied. "Camp's not really that far off"

However Percy already knew something was wrong. The other passengers inside the bus weren't actually human. He can't actually say the same for the policemen. Usually he would be the first to take inceptive, but the satyrs haven't realized the danger they were in. He can't act before they do. Feigning ignorance is going to be harder than he thought.

Thankfully it was the other boy 'Chris' who saw the bus driver getting stabbed in the back by the policemen. "They killed him!" he shouted causing the rest of the occupants in the bus to stand up. Darren and Gio looked out to the road block where the Bus driver had a spear embedded on his back, while the two policemen looked on expressionlessly at the dead body.

"I knew this was too good to be true" Darren panicked before Gio grabbed him by the collar and slapped him on the face.

Darren gave him a look as if to say 'was that even necessary?'

It was at this time that both half-goats realized that the other passengers were blocking the route to the exits.

"What are those things?" Chris asked as the four of them backed up to each other. Upon closer inspection, these 'passengers' had some sort of transparent skin that could have easily be over-seen if they didn't really focus on them. Under the skin, they could faintly their wicked obsidian colored skeleton.

"Percy, Chris" the elder satyr called out as he brought out a baseball bat while Darren brought out a wooden Lyre. "I know this may be confusing but if we make it out of this, we'll explain as best as we can"

The only response they got was a grunt from Percy. Chris was too stunned to even respond. The monsters, if they could even be classified into monster, began to pull bones out of their body presumably to be used as weapons. One pulled a rib bone. One pulled the bones out of his left arm. One even pulled out a whole spine. How it managed to still stand still was anyone's answer.

"Okay here's the plan –" Darren was however interrupted by Percy.

"Chris" Percy said getting his attention "How good are you with a sword?

"I'm not sure" he responded.

"If I gave you one would you be able to fight them?"

Chris gave a determined look and nodded at him. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

He didn't reply. The satyrs both look at each other. They knew that it was dangerous. But saying anything against it wouldn't possibly make the situation worse. Besides, it wasn't like they had much of a choice.

Percy sprinted to the nearest enemy, which was the one using its own hand as a weapon. These creatures were wobbly and slow, easy prey. Percy side stepped to avoid a jab and to get to its right side. With a sickening sound, he dislocated and tore off its right arm leaving it armless. He passed one of its arms at Chris to act a weapon.

Chris felt momentarily disgusted at the slimy feeling of holding the hand. But he knew it wasn't the time for it. Gio batted the one blocking the way on its head and the three rushed out to the road. One of the policemen threw a spear at Chris which he avoided by a hair length.

Inside the bus, after decapitating one of the unknown ghoul-like creatures, one with the spine tried to jab Percy straight at his forehead but he caught the spine using one hand and pulled it closer to him. Taking advantage of its loose grip, Percy redirected the tip at its head and pushed it inside sending it straight to the ground and pinning its head to the floor of the bus. Percy was actually surprised for once in his life. The ghouls that they were fighting didn't disperse into dust like normal monsters would. He wasn't given time to ponder it just yet. He evaded a spear thrown to him from the outside by leaning to the back and caught it with his right hand. Looking out to the direction that the spear was thrown from, he could see dozens of them appearing out of the woods. Unlike their brethrens, who were wearing modern clothing, these ones wore some kind of spiked gothic armor. It wasn't an appealing sight. Wasting no time, he used the spear to hit the nearest ghoul. He looked to the two satyrs and demigod to see them still in a fight with the policemen on the other side of the bus. He smirked at the sight and jumped through the broken window.

Noobs

Percy pulled his hood back as he surveyed the enemies that were slowly trying to surround. He wasn't going to give them that chance. He Zoomed forward to one of the ghouls, grabbed its head and planted it to the ground, completely smashing its helmet along with its head. He leaned forward slightly to avoid a slash directed to him. He grabbed its hand, spun him around hitting two other ghouls and threw the ghoul he was using to another. He grabbed a sword on the ground and stabbed a ghoul through its stomach. He rushed around, continuously using the sword to stab the ghouls and ended making a corpse kebab. After having no more space for more bodies, he pinned the collection of bodies to a tree.

He ducked as an arrow flew above him. He looked above on the tree to see ghoul archers reading their arrows at him. He took in air and slowly breathed out blue air. It glowed as the blue air spiraled to both his legs.

"Power of the sky" he whispered. In mere seconds, he blurred out of existence.

The archers looked around for their missing target before one of them got punched in the stomach and fell to the ground. All the other archers quickly directed their bow to their fallen comrade body but they saw nothing. Two more, went missing. One by one, the archers were being dealt with until every one of them was incapacitated. Percy appeared kneeling besides one of the ghoul's body and inspected it.

It wasn't something he had seen before. It didn't disappear when it was killed. It might not be monsters. But it didn't surprise him that much. Weirder things happened to him over the last couple of years. Pulling his hood back up and dispelling the contradicting wind powers he rushed back to the others.

As he arrived, he looked to the sight of them just having wrapped up the scene. The ghoul-policemen were dead on the ground, one with a bone on its back and the other being wrapped up in roots despite being on a concrete road, probably the work of the lyre.

It was a good thing that it took this long for them to kill the creatures. Otherwise they would have seen the earlier gore-festival within the woods. That would have been fun to explain. As far as they knew, he had only defeated two ghouls and that was as far as he would want them to believe.

"Did you get them?" Chris panted as he bended down trying to catch his breath.

"Yes" was his only reply.

Chris took a deep breath and stood straight up. "You guys have got a lot of explaining to do" he directed the question towards the Satyrs.

"Fine" the elder satyr said. "We'll explain mostly on the way. We need to move" He threw away the bent baseball bat to the side and began to walk down the road.

"Percy" the other boy called out as he walked towards him. "I believe I haven't introduced myself properly" he held out his hand which he took. "My name's Chris. Chris Rodriguez"

…

Percy was somehow slightly relieved that Chris was with them. That way he didn't have to act like an idiot as Gio the satyr told them about the existence of Greek gods. He would only have to go along with what was told and carefully note everything down, so he wouldn't make a slip of the tongue.

The sun was almost setting as they reached the boundary of camp-half blood. Chris, being an inexperienced traveler was on the edge of collapsing to the ground.

"Thank the gods!" Darren sighed as he saw a familiar large pine tree. "I'm hungry" he said as he patted on his empty stomach.

"Don't slack up just yet" Gio reprimanded. "We still have to report to the director?"

"Aww man" he said as his face fell.

"Who's the director?" Chris asked Gio.

"You'll see"

Chris didn't like the sound of that. Percy however was prepared for the worst. He knew as much as Chris about who the director was. He sounds like someone high up in the Olympians hierarchy. Someone who oversees the Greek demigod's training, that's a duty of a worthy target.

As the four entered the camp, the two demigods couldn't help but awe at the Greek buildings they passed. They could see a Greek pavilion with a dozen easels holding up blank canvases, an empty volley ball court, the amphitheater, a beautiful lake with a couple of canoes docked to the small pier and the collection of different buildings that was placed in an unusual way.

"It isn't summer yet, so the place is naturally void. At this time of the day, the year-rounder are probably having dinner" Gio explained.

"Where are we going by the way?" Chris asked as he tore his gaze away from the view.

"We're going to see the camp director" Darren answered. "Mr. D"

"Why am I getting the feeling that he's not that a joyous person to be around"

"Here we are" Gio said as they arrived in front of a large wooden blue house. "The big house" The four went to the opposite side of the house where they founded a rather plump man wearing leopard spotted shirt, beige walking shorts and sandals. He was leaning over one of the railings, looking out to the woods. This surprised the two satyrs seeing that they were accustomed of always seeing him play pinochle on the table with a diet coke in one hand.

Mr. D heard the sounds of footsteps becoming nearer and turned his head around. Mr. D looked to the new arrivals in a bored manner with slightly dropped eyes.

"Oh. Fresh meat" he greeted unenthusiastically as he sighed. "Darren" he said causing the poor satyr to jump on his feet. "Get Castellan here."

"Yes sir, right away" he responded as he ran to the direction of the mess halls.

Mr. D let out a frustrated breath as he took a seat and began to flourish out playing cards. "Why isn't that horse here to do these kinds of things?" he muttered under his breath. "Welcome to camp-half blood, yadda - yadda, etcetera - etcetera. I'm Mr. D. Camp director. You know why you're here. I couldn't care less. And… oh yeah, any questions should be directed to Gio. Now go away" he shooed.

Percy couldn't believe it, this was the camp director for the demigods. He wanted to laugh out loud but that would totally be out of his character. This was insulting and to think that he considered camp-half blood to be a threat. Do the gods even care of their spawns?

"Wait, that's it?" Chris asked in surprisal.

"What? Were you expecting a celebration – What's your name again?" Mr. D asked.

"Chris Rodriguez" he told his name.

"I'll just call you bob" Chris was about to say something but Mr. D cut him off. "Listen here Bob. I'm sure that my Satyrs had already explained to you why you are here. Yes. Then you must understand that we here have others like you. I can't spend time trying to supervise each and every demigod. Now that would be insane. And trust me I know insane."

Chris couldn't find a response to that. Gio gave a nervous laugh. "Thank you, Mr. D"

"I aim to please" he said as he continued playing cards. He looked suspiciously to the other demigod. "You, why are so quiet?"

"I guess I'm still trying to comprehend everything here" he replied swiftly but it still wasn't enough to rid the suspicion off him. Fortunately, Mr. D, being lazy as he was, decided to leave the issue alone for the time being.

It was at that time that Gio came back with a new person in tow.

"Ahh, Castellan"

The guy 'Castellan' was a lean tall muscular guy with blond hair and a scar that went from under his right eye to his jaw. "What do you need Mr. D?"

"Informal as always" Mr. Dreplied. "These two are new campers. You know what to do, and give them their camp clothes while you're at it"

Percy's ears perked up. "Camp clothes?" he asked.

"Yes" he answered as if it was obvious "Like the one Luke here is wearing" he gestured to the brightly colored orange t-shirt that Luke was wearing. Orange T-shirts, he wouldn't want to be caught wearing those shirts. He thought about anything that he could do and saw the playing cards lying on the table. Then he came up with an idea.

"I don't intend to wear those clothes" he stated suddenly making Luke and Gio expressed a shocked face.

"And I didn't intend to take care of dozens of brats like you, but the fates had to be a bitch" He replied without pulling his attention away from the deck of cards in his hand. "You'll be wearing that shirt whether you like it or not"

"How about we make a bet?"

"A bet" Mr. D said sounding surprised.

"Percy, I don't think…" Darren tried to reason but was cut off by Mr. D again.

"What kind of bet?" He asked with an amused look on his face.

"A single game of Pinochle" he told him after he realized what kind of game the director was playing.

"You know how to play Pinochle?" he asked sounding astounded. "I must say that I am impressed. Not many of you demigods play this sort of game. I guess it's the lack of patience to learn it." He got no response. "Very well, what are the stakes?"

"I win the bet. I get to keep my clothes" he said as he took a seat opposite of Mr. D

"What if I win, demigod? What do I get?"

"It's your prize. You name it"

Mr. D thought about it for a while then he came up with an idea. "Alright, if I win, you will clean the toilets, male and female, as well as the stables for the whole summer" Luke shivered at the thought of cleaning horse crap for three months. The stakes was imbalanced and unfair, it wasn't a bet that Luke was willing to take.

"Deal" he accepted the terms. They shook hands, Mr. D snapped waved his hand, and the tables were set for the game.

The game wasn't that long but it certainly came to a big surprise to the demigods and satyrs that were present when the director sighed and placed his cards onto the table in a defeated manner. "Fine you win, I guess I underestimated you a bit demigod"

"You'll keep to your side of your deal" he reassured

"Yes, I'll keep my word. You can keep that worn out jacket of yours. You'll have amnesty to wear your own clothes. But that's going to raise a lot of questions" he muttered the last bit. "Darren. Don't you have work to do?" causing him to jump in surprise and sprinted off in a random direction but not before giving the director a shaky 'yes sir'.

...

"That was the most badass thing I've ever seen in my life" Chris said to Percy as they followed Luke away from the big house.

"More badass than the fight on the bus" Percy said in slight amusement.

"More less the same" he smiled.

"You know, Mr. D isn't the only one who's impressed. Before we go on any further, I'm Luke Castellan, counselor for cabin thirteen and one of the swordfight tutors for the camp" He introduced himself. "Chris Rodriguez and Percy…?" he paused, "Sorry I didn't caught your last name."

"It wasn't trying to get caught" he replied simply.

Luke didn't understood what he meant by that be refused to go on with it. If he didn't want to tell, there was no use in forcing him. "Ok, just Percy then. You beating Mr. D in own game isn't a normal thing. Rumors are going to spread like wildfire about you."

"What's wrong with beating him in a stupid card game?" Chris asked curiously.

"He didn't tell you. Well Chiron isn't here to make sure he does so it's understandable" he explained.

"What didn't he told us?"

"Do you think that Mr. D is his full name? Of course it isn't. That D stands for something"

"It stands for what?"

"Oh c'mon, think for a little while. Who in Greek mythology starts with a letter D?"

Perseus however already knew the answer "Dionysus" he breathed out.

"You're right" he said as he continued his path.

Dionysus, one of the Olympians, was here and he played a round of cards without him noticing it was a god. Percy looked back to the big house with malice. He felt a growing feeling in his stomach. He took a step towards the big house but he resisted the urge to go and try to kill Dionysus. He realized that acting impatient wouldn't make the situation any better. It would actually do the opposite. No, he will have to bide his time and see.

"Percy" Chris shouted. "Are you coming?"

With one last vengeful glare towards the house that sheltered the god of wine he turned and followed Chris to the direction of the cabins.

…

"Did you felt it, Gio?" he asked the satyr who was standing beside him.

"His smell is thick and strong, my lord. Stronger than any demigod I've ever seen"

"During the game, I felt something inside him" he looked at his trembling hands and he chuckled darkly, his hands were trembling. Now that wasn't a sight he never thought he would see. "It was something that closely bore resemblance of father during his dark moods" The trembling didn't stop. "But it was more… chaotic. As if the powers in him were fighting each with each other"

"My lord?" the satyr asked concerned for the god.

"It must have been my imagination" he assured himself as he clamped his trembling hand tightly.

He went inside to the big and was about to call it a day when a familiar presence entered the room.

"Hermes" He regarded as he turned and looked to see the messenger of gods with a serious face. "What happened?"

"It's Zeus, he's called an emergency meeting" Hermes said with a grave tone. "His master bolt is gone"

* * *

_A/N hello okay. In the real story, the only satyrs I know about are just Grover, Hedge, Don (technically he's a faun) and the council members. I hope you don't mind i introduce some new satyrs._

_All right, my other half has been bothering me about this and i actually think its a good idea. If you have any suggestions to the story you can either review or Pm me. If it sounds awesome i may put it in the story or i'll keep it for other stories. It may be a good idea since i have writer's block 90 percent of the time.__Also if you have nothing to read after this i recommend reading New Dawn by fjclay823. It's a good story. Go to the author's story and tell that Densha sent you there. The story deserves more love._

_That's all i have to say for now, i hope i didn't forget anything. Make sure to Review if you like the story, it gives me motivation to write faster and in turn update faster. See the maths there._


	10. A complete set

_Hello readers. Man, updating in a monthly basis really is going to be a bad habit. I had this chapter finish a week ago but i didn't found the time to edit it. Hehe... sorry? __Anyways, i got my results back and it was better than i expected. And lastly thank you all for the reviews, i really appreciate them. Of course Percy is going to be involved in the lighting bolt quest, how? that's for you to read and find out. Just bear with me here. I don't particularly like it when stories go to fast and yes this story is going to be slow, i may make the quests move at a faster rate and maybe skip at some of the unimportant parts. I don't really want to rewrite the whole five books. I'll just take some snippets from them and add a little bit of twist._

_Well, without further ado, on with the story_

Densha,

**Hunting with guns is simply cheating.**

**Hunting with knives is ancient.**

**Hunting with hands, now that's just plain insane.**

* * *

"And here's Hermes' cabin or also known as cabin eleven." Luke introduced the worn-out wooden cabin. It looked like a normal camp cabin which was unusual because the other cabins had a variety of colors and shapes that made them distinctive in their own way. This cabin had only intertwined snake over its door.

"It's so –" Chris began.

"Ugly" Luke predicted his sentence.

"I was going to say normal" Chris looked through the opened door and saw that the room was void of life. "And a little bit empty" he added.

"Well technically it still is dinner" He replied as he stepped into the cabin. "It's not that much to look at" he sounded sad. "But Hermes cabin is most hospitable place from the other cabins. Either than me" he took a drenched towel from the floor, took a sniff, and threw it out of the window. "There's six more. You'll get the chance to meet them later. But I must warn you" he turned around to look at them. "In the summer, the place may get a bit overcrowded" He said it such a calm manner that Percy almost missed the dark undertone beneath it, almost.

It was at that moment that the six said demigods came into the cabin, chatting in a usual demeanor. They stopped in their tracks when they saw the two new demigods with their counselor. Percy recognized one of them as his demigods. Jane, he recalled the demigod's name. The other two probably had been sorted into their own cabins. Then he wondered how, how were they actually sorted?

"Just in time" Luke said. "This is Chris Rodriguez" he patted the demigod on the shoulder. "And this is Percy, uh… Percy" he introduced the both of them to the other occupants of the cabin.

Being the one that accepts newcomers of Camp-half blood, cabin eleven members usually made introductions simple and easy. Well, they did it to Chris but because of Percy's oppressive state they mostly steered away. Except for this couple of boys that looked to be twins, they didn't actually bother him in any way. They just stared at him oddly. Maybe it was the hood covering his face or his silence that made them a slight bit interested in the new demigod. Either way, Percy felt quite annoyed at the indiscreet stares.

"Alright, Percy, Chris" Luke called out. "We'll be going to the Arena for a bit. Stolls" he said, catching the attention of the two demigods staring at Percy. "You're coming with us"

They looked at each other, then shrugged and followed their counselor out of the Cabin with a loud "Aye". Percy sighed as he stepped out of the cabin. The five of them passed other demigods, each on their way to their respective cabins after having their dinner. Some heads turned to the hooded figure before talking about it back to their friends in hushed tones.

They eventually reached the Arena. It was an open area surrounded by white marble pillars. It was large enough place to hold training for a dozen or two demigods. On one end of the Arena, there were a couple of dummies posted for training. It wasn't in a good condition. Luke randomly picked a sword from a nearby temporary weapon stand. He tried its weight and decided it was well enough to use for him.

Chris looked over the small arsenal of weapons with glee. After the fight with those undead looking policemen, he felt such a welcoming thrill that he wanted to try to at least decently fight with a proper weapon, not a part of the human skeleton system. Chris picked up a short sword that was neither too heavy nor too light.

"How about we do a friendly spar?" Luke suggested as he readied his sword. The Stolls brothers who stood besides Luke had sneaky grins on their faces and had daggers and throwing knives ready. "A three on two, what do you say?"

"You bet!" Chris enthusiastically said. He ran to Percy's side with a determined look and readied his sword. He was curious as after he realized that his current sparring partner was unarmed and didn't look to have any intention in picking a weapon from the rack. "Percy, where's your weapon?"

He gave a small scoff and shifted his stance into a fighting one.

"You're going unarmed?" he asked sounding surprised. First he took on those ghouls as if he had experience. Well he did, but no one knows about that except Percy himself. Secondly he won a bet against a god and now he was going to fight swords against hand. He really was full of surprises.

"You're serious are you?" Luke asked. "Even if you're not going to use a weapon, we aren't going to go easy on you" Percy put up both his fists as if trying to goad them into making the first move. "I just hope you're ready to play dirty" he smirked "Because the sons of Hermes never play fair".

Connor threw a series of knives to the ground in front of Chris and Percy. Percy however noticed the imminent danger from the knives and leaped back. Chris was however too late to realized his partner had fallen back. Smoke came out from the knives and Chris was immediately covered in it. He coughed and rubbed his stinging eyes while at the same time slashing his sword in haphazardly.

Percy raised a calculative eyebrow, smoke coming out of knives? That was certainly new to him.

Travis and Connor sprinted to Percy from both sides while avoiding the large cloud of smoke in the middle. They were fast, but not so much that Percy couldn't catch up. One of the brothers tried to jab at him from the right. Percy countered by grabbing the dagger hand tightly causing him to release the grip on the dagger. He tried to punch Percy with his left hand but Percy used his back palm to slap it away giving a large opening to his stomach. He couldn't use the opportunity though as Percy sensed the danger coming from behind. He released the hold on the Connor, turned and leaned back to avoid getting stab by a dagger. He kicked the hilt of the weapon, causing it to fly out of Travis's hand. He blocked a kick directed to him using both of hands and then gripped the kicking leg tightly. He pulled Travis closer making him lose his balance and fall to the ground, tasting the sand that went into his mouth.

Connor, after seeing his brother in his current condition ran to help him. It did nothing though as Percy swept Travis on the floor to Connor's direction, causing him to suffer the same fate as his brother. The brothers helped each other up to their feet. Both of them pulled out their last dagger and charged at their opponent at the same time. Percy easily ducked under their jabbing arm and using both his hands, he palmed the two brothers in their stomach. Eyes grew wide and spit came out as the impact made the both of them to fly back a couple of meters. They landed on the ground with a groan then clutched their stomach in pain. They struggled to get up but the pained made it hard to do so.

"I got to say, that was impressive" Luke said from behind him. The smoke was completely gone and Luke had Chris on the ground with his knee on Chris's back. Luke stood up and ran up to Percy. He was considerably faster than the Stolls. His attacks were more fluid and smooth. Percy was actually having a hard time catching up to the other boy's speed. Percy avoided his attacks for a couple more moments before he found an opening. He twisted his body and fisted Luke's sword out of his hand. Luke was momentarily surprised as he looked to his hand where the sword was just recently there. He then gave a small chuckle and raised his hands in defeat.

"Alright, you got me. You win" Luke turned his head towards the Stolls who were still clutching their stomachs. "Any objections?" he asked them.

"Nope" one of them answered in a strained voice. The other only raised a thumb up.

"Well, that settles it" He said. "You win" he heard a groan coming from Chris and scratched the back of his head. "I may have gone a bit too hard on our friend there" he walked to Chris to check up on him. A moment of silence fell on them "You know Percy" he broke the short silence.

"What?" he said.

"How about becoming a tutor?" He suggested to the hooded figure. "We need more people like you"

"A tutor?" he asked.

"Yeah, you know, teaching less experienced kids on how to fight. We currently don't have an unarmed specialist in camp. As matter of fact, we never had an unarmed specialist" he said in realization. "Weapons and arrows are good and all, but they rust and break" he clenched his fist. "You can't rely on anything else after your weapon breaks. Nothing" he looked to Percy with a sad smile. "What do you say?"

Percy thought about it. Making the demigods a bit tougher wasn't going to hinder his plans in a big way and he had no quarrels with the other demigods. Besides, who knew if he may find some new allies along the way? Surely he wasn't the only one in camp who hated their parent. Having a high standing within the demigod camp would surely help him manipulate the Camp's side during the war. He however wasn't expecting that much. But it was a good move nonetheless.

"Sure, why not?" he answered.

"Great" Luke said as he stood up. The Stolls were slowly trying to stand up after most of the pain had subsided.

They had playful grins on their faces despite their deplorable state. "And we'll be joining that class" Travis stated.

"Yeah, we got to learn to fight like that" Connor added.

"Alright guys, let's bring help get Chris to the infirmary and call it a night" He said as he picked up the scattered swords on the ground and placed them back at the racks while the Stolls helped Chris on his feet.

"Luke" Percy called out, catching his attention.

"Yup" Luke said as he brushed the sand off from his trousers. "What'd you need?"

"I don't feel… comfortable sleeping with the others" He lied. In truth he just didn't want to go to the trouble of trying to explain to someone if they saw his nightly needle sessions. "Do you have any other place to sleep?"

Luke thought about it. The other cabins were out of the way for sure. The big house isn't actually made to host guest. Chiron and Dionysus's rooms were empty but he wasn't sure that they would appreciate people invading their privacy. That and he didn't want to be turned into a dolphin. Then one place came into his mind.

"I know just the place" he said.

…

"Here we are" he announced as they reached a tree right on the boundary of the forest. It was tall but wasn't too that it towered over the other trees. There was a rope ladder leading up to a wooden platform on one of the tree branches. Percy followed Luke as he climbed up the ladder.

"It's not much to look at. It's just something I made to relax and drink coke in my spare time. But after being one of the sword instructors, I guess I kind of lost the luxury" Luke stated to Percy. "Just make sure you don't roll to your death while you sleep though" he looked down and grimaced.

"This will do" Percy responded as he set his backpack down. Luke heard metal jingling from the bag as it hit the ground but chose to ignore it. Percy pulled his hood back letting Luke for the first time see his facial features. Percy had slightly long jet black hair and an angular face. The most disturbing thing was his emotionless green eyes and the three line tattoo on his left cheek.

"That tattoo…" He regarded it.

"It's nothing" Percy grazed his finger tips on it. "Tell me Luke. How do the demigods get sorted?"

Luke was a bit taken aback by the question. "Well basically, your godly parent makes a sign you're his or her child, then you get sorted"

"You said that the Hermes cabin gets overcrowded right?"

Luke's expression darkened considerably "They aren't really that many children of Hermes, it's overcrowded because of the undetermined"

"Undetermined?"

"The ones who never get to know who their godly parents, the ones who keep asking for a sign of who they are". Or what he liked to call, lost souls. But that was too dark of a term to use.

"How many of them are they?"

"Too many" He looked towards the direction of the cabins. Luke sighed. "That's enough for now, I think" he said as he began to climb down the ladder. "See you tomorrow".

Percy watched the blond descended and then stared at the receding sunlight on the clouds. His head started to throb and he reached towards his bag for the needles.

'Damned voices' he cursed mentally as he inserted one into a specific location on his neck.

…

On his walk back to Cabin eleven, Luke encountered the half-goat Gio.

"What is it?" Luke asked after seeing the satyr's grave face.

"Mr. D left camp earlier to Mt. Olympus" Gio told Luke.

"What happened?" he sounded concerned.

"One of Zeus's weapons has been stolen. He blames Poseidon for stealing. Basically it's a war council" he explained in simplified terms.

Luke tried his best to keep his face passive. He knew what was stolen and he even knew where it was. He should know considering the fact that he stole it.

"Mr. D said that he'll be gone for a while and until he or Chiron comes back, you're in charge"

"Okay, thanks for the info" Luke thanked but he felt that Gio still had more to say.

"What do you feel about the newcomer?" Gio finally asked.

"Percy? He's a bit unusual but he's all good." He stared at the half- goat. "Is Dionysus suspicious of him?" Gio nodded severely.

Luke wanted to laugh wildly. The god was suspicious of the wrong person at the perfect time. "Typical" he jeered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gio narrowed his eyes skeptically.

"The second the god sees a potential threat, they'll try to mark him won't they?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"That demigod is too powerful –"

"Yeah, he's strong" Luke cut him off "but is that really a good enough reason to be suspicious?" The half-goat went silent. "Mr. D should have been wary of people that aren't suspicious" Luke turned around and continued on his way to his cabin eleven.

"What do you mean?" He called out.

"Nothing" He replied not wanting to give anymore hints that he was a traitor. He left the Satyr wondering about the whole encounter, if he'd seen the dark grin that appeared on Luke's face, Gio may have gotten a small clue of what the blond had meant.

…

The next day, inside the Athena cabin, Annabeth rubbed her index finger over a study table to inspect its cleanliness during which a knock on the door disrupted her clean freak phase of the morning. She faintly heard low dreamy sighs coming from the other females and craned her neck to see what was interrupting her morning practice.

"Luke" she almost yelped seeing him just outside the room near the open door. He waved at her and she waved back quite stupidly. He gestured for the daughter of Athena to go out. And so she did. She would have rolled her eyes at the other girls fawning over Luke if she wasn't also one of them. Then she would have been a hypocrite.

Luke leaned on the wooden railing of Athena's cabin as Annabeth came out of the room and shut the door behind her.

"Sorry about that Luke" she smiled nervously. "Just morning cleaning"

"Nah" he waved it away. "It's okay. I just came here to tell you something seeing as you're one of the instructors"

"Okay, what is it?"

"There's some kind of trouble in Olympus and Mr. D left the camp yesterday"

"What kind of trouble?" she asked curiously.

"The big kind, and Chiron's absent so he practically left me in charge of the camp"

"That's huge, so what do you want us to do?"

"We'll be having a meeting later on at the Amphitheater, so it'll be great if you spread the news"

"A meeting" she said "What for?"

"I'll be introducing a new instructor for the camp"

Annabeth blinked at the news "What? A new instructor, who is it? What's he going to be teaching us?"

"Calm down Annabeth, they'll be plenty of opportunity for asking questions later on" He said as he stood straight up and moved away from the cabin. "You just make sure that the Amphitheater's filled later on. Trust me. It'll be one heck of a show"

"Okay" she said weakly "I'll trust you" the last sentence was muttered under her breath so Luke obviously couldn't hear the somewhat personal statement.

"All right get back to work" she commanded through the closed door, knowing full well that her half-siblings were eavesdropping through it. Gods, they were as worse as the Aphrodite children when it came to information, Where as they only hunt gossips, the children of Athena really don't care what the information is what so ever.

…

Percy spent a whole two hours in slumber before he felt a presence hovering above him. Opening his eyes he was surprised to see it was a nymph with light green hair and milk blue eyes. She was scrutinizing him as if she was trying to figure what score she would give for his sleeping position. She looked around her teen years. But you don't know, with mystical creatures such as nymphs, they could be older than a century.

"Oh good" she said a little bit too late "You're awake"

"What?" Percy said as he tried to comprehend on what was happening. "Who are you?"

"I'm Aleva, you know, the tree you were just sleeping in"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was your tree"

"Well, I'm not angry. I actually pride myself to be the only nymph in camp-half blood to provide a sleeping area for demigods" she huffed with pride as she placed her hands on her hips. Apparently it was a big deal for her. It was a moment before she realized that she was still in a middle of a conversation. She pulled out a rolled up piece of paper and gave it to him. He was confused at first but he cautiously took it of her hands and proceeded to unroll it. The writings were Greek but he understood the short sentence on the paper.

'RENT: LABOUR OR MONEY ACCEPTED' the title read. It had some more sentences describing the drachma rates of living on the tree. It was the stupidest thing he'd ever seen. He looked to the wood nymph half- hoping that she was joking but her serious face told him that she wasn't in the slightest finding humor in all this.

"What is this?" Percy asked calmly though a slight twitch appeared on his eye.

"Can't you read Greek demigod?" she said "It's the rates for hotel tree. You didn't think that you could live here freely don't you. It's either pay up or get the Hades off my tree"

"I understand that… but you're a wood nymph. What are you going to do with the money?"

"I don't know" she answered as she looked to the ground. "Maybe I'll bury them randomly in the ground this time" she stated excitedly. Talk about a waste of drachma.

"If you're going to do that, why even bother with the rent?" he inquired.

She jabbed a finger to Percy's chest. "To teach demigods like you" she jabbed another time. "Not to free load. You need to work to get something. Nothing in this world is free"

Percy sighed and reread the terms. This was probably the stupidest thing he'd ever heard, having to pay for sleeping in a tree. He was already contributing to the camp more than he would have preferred as it is. But it was either having his privacy violated which would cause him to be exponentially suspicious or doing work. Of course he would have done the latter. Before he could decide on it Aleva the wood nymph interrupted him.

"Since you probably don't know what drachma is you'll be paying rent by doing labor" she stated.

"And what is the labor?" He asked impassively. Hoping it wasn't as equally as ridiculous as the whole scenario.

"Oh, nothing much, you just have to clean the clumps leaves around my tree. That should be enough I think" She sounded unsure of it. Percy looked down to where dry brown leaves were scattered around the base of the tree. It wasn't that much. He could finish within five minutes without even breaking a sweat. The right choice was pretty much visible now. "Demigods this generation are really interesting" she mused out. "No matter how simple the task is. If they have means to get the easy way out, they'll probably choose the laziest option. I guess the times really degrade the quality of every single thing"

Percy wasn't sure if he understood the meaning in her musings or why she was randomly spouting things out of the blue, maybe it was just a nymph thing. But he would agree with one thing, time really did change everything, usually to a much neutral pace.

The wood nymph noticed him staring with an unreadable expression at her. "What? We can be philosophical at times you know". Aleva pulled out a leaf sweeper from out of the tree trunk and held it besides her. "Well. Planning on still staying on my tree?"

Percy sighed as he took the Rake of her hands and jumped of the wooden platform. Aleva appeared on the ground as quickly as he did. "Yeah you could start near by the base and just work your way on the other leaves"

Percy complied with her wishes and began to sweep the leaves and group them into fragile piles. It wasn't long after that more wood nymphs appeared out of the trees surrounding him.

"Aleva" one of them called "Could you make him clean my tree also?"

"Oh, me too" another said. Then came more request from other wood nymphs.

"You heard them, demigod" Aleva said which was responded by a myriad of thank you from the other nymphs. Percy's eye twitched slightly at the sudden increased in work load. Looking to the horizon, the sun was just about to rise. It was going to be a long day.

It was at around nine in the morning, after breakfast, that Luke came to see how the new unarmed instructor was doing. He was greeted with a sight of a mountain of leaves besides the tree that Percy was temporarily sleeping in.

"Oh yeah" Luke said sheepishly "I forgot about the owner of the tree"

"You should have warned me about this earlier" Percy said, appearing from behind the large pile of dried up leaves. "I wasn't expecting on doing manual labor"

Luke chuckled lightly "It wasn't really that hard, was it? And how could you possibly know what you were expecting?"

Percy bit his tongue, a simple mistake, nothing unsalvageable. It was fortunate that the nymphs choose to intervene at that time, with annoying giggles and mutters under their breath. They sat, grouped together like noisy jungle birds, on a single branch. They had sat there like an audience, never leaving their seats since he had started raking the leaves. He felt like he was in an exhibition. He didn't like it one bit.

"Hi Luke" the collective of nymphs greeted him.

"Sorry ladies" Luke said to the Nymphs, gesturing to the other boy to follow him "I going to have to borrow Percy for a while"

"You can do anything you want to him Luke" Aleva said dreamily. "He can finish up later".

"He was cute, right?" A nymph said uncertainly as the boys went out of ear shot.

"I think so"

…

"Well" Luke began as he neared the forest borders. "That was unusual"

"What's more unusual was the work. Didn't you say you used to live in that tree for a while?" Percy asked the temporary camp director.

"I did"

"How did you manage it? The Landlord seems to be… plenty to take."

"Well, making the platform was a hundred drachma and for every month I lived there to pay around forty - fifty drachma" He recalled uncertainly before looking back to him. "Don't worry about Aleva, as long as you're on her good side, she'll keep monsters and children of Hermes away from the tree. She really takes her job as a 'tree' landlord really seriously."

Percy wasn't even going to comment on that.

"Where are we going?" Percy finally asked.

"To introduce our new instructor of course" he grinned. "Make sure you make a good first impression"

Percy grunted in annoyance. 'Great, more people', he thought as he pulled up his hood, just great.

…

The both of them entered the Amphitheatre with Percy's hooded figure walking besides Hermes's cabin counselor causing waves of mutters to erupt in the stand. Three other people waited for them in front of the stand, people which he assumed to be the other camp instructors.

Luke stopped just besides them with a small smile.

"Morning, Campers" The Hermes counselor addressed the rest of the camp members. "As you all know, summer's just around the corner. And we're expecting new recruits as well as veteran campers to return. So be sure to get ready for that transition. In other news, Chiron and Dionysus are absent from camp so I'll be temporary in charge. But that doesn't mean any I'll allow any mischief" He emphasized that part mostly to his own cabin to which they replied with unveiled groans of disappointment "And lastly, Let me introduce you to one of our newest camper, Percy" He gestured to the hooded figure to his left.

Dead silence.

Annabeth gave a quiet skeptical look at Percy. The hooded guy was supposed to be teaching a camp full of kids. She couldn't really see his face so she couldn't make any first-hand speculations, but seeing him in that jacket and oozing some kind of aura that was certainly unfriendly was enough for her to question whether Luke was under any medications when he made that decision. Wait, what was he supposed to be teaching again?

"Uhh" Luke resumed "Well, I have asked Percy here to be the camp's new Instructor"

A ripple of speech coursed through the stands until Luke managed to silence them all. "One at a time"

"What's he going to be teaching?" One of Hephaestus's campers asked out loud.

"Good question" Luke responded. "He'll be instructing in unarmed combat"

"Unarmed" One of the Ares children scoffed out. "You're expecting us to fight monsters with hands? Isn't that what swords and spears are for?" The other Ares campers grunted in agreement.

Of course an Ares child had to oppose.

"And what if your weapon breaks?" Luke shot back. "You're going to mend your weapon in the heat of battle. Gods, even Beckendorf and his crew can't do that"

"Wait a few more years" Beckendorf joked from where he was standing, causing some of the campers to snigger in their seats.

"Yeah, whatever" The Ares kid continued. "It's still useless against solid celestial bronze".

"Care to demonstrate that?" Luke challenged.

"What?" The Ares kid asked confused.

"Your celestial bronze against his bare hands" Luke gestured to Percy who had remained quiet throughout the whole proceedings.

"Are you kidding me?"

"No, I'm not. Unless you're scared" Luke goaded. Percy can't believe Luke was taunting the Ares kid to fight with him. It was Percy who was going to do the fighting, not him.

"A child of Ares never backs down a challenge" He stated as he stood up from his seat. He looked first to a blond girl who sat behind them all as if asking for permission. The blond gave a subtle nod to him. The Ares kid clapped behind the backs of to others of his cabin mates and three children of Ares stepped down into the middle of the amphitheater with swords and drawn.

"Three against one, Sherman" Luke added from the growing sideline. "I thought this was going to be an even fight?"

"If you really have high hopes for this guy, then a three on one for him would be cake" Sherman replied.

The three Ares kids readied to attack against the lone boy. "Are you ready?" Percy asked felling irritated and also letting the other campers hear his voice for the first time.

"Oh we are" He replied. "Ready to crush that –"

Percy elbowed Sherman in the neck, causing him to gag and flew a couple of meters back to the ground. The second Ares Kid tried to slice him from his right, but Percy only stepped back to evade it. He caught the tip of the sword and gripped it tightly. With his other hand, he punched to the flat side of the blade which in turn made the celestial bronze shatter into tiny glowing shards of metal. Caught in shock of his blade being destroyed, he didn't saw the side kick that was directed to his face. He joined his brother to the ground leaving only one still able to fight. Seeing his two fallen brothers, he haphazardly sliced at Percy, afraid for his own fate. Percy easily caught the other's hand and bended his hand so that his sword was slightly grazing on his neck.

"Give?" Percy offered surrender.

"Give" He said while trembling. Percy released his grip and the Ares kid fell to the ground.

Percy stood and waited for the verdict to come.

"I think he was going easy on us yesterday" Travis whispered to Connor, seeing how fast he took down the children of Ares.

"You don't say" His brother airily muttered back, eyes still glued to Percy.

The entire amphitheater was silent in shock. The blond, who Percy presumed is the leaders for the Ares Cabin glared at him for a while before averting her gaze elsewhere. She didn't say anything, but he understood the sign of the subtle surrender. Luke chose at that time to break the formidable silence.

"Well, I think that's over for now" He carefully stepped over one of the Ares kids. "Any other objections?" he asked to the general campers. The silence was enough as an answer to him. "I guess that's it then. Meeting adjourned"

After the majority of campers had left, Luke stayed in the amphitheater area with Percy and also a few people that Luke wanted to introduce to Percy.

"This is Charles Beckendorf" Luke introduced a large and muscled guy. "He's head for Hephaestus cabin and teaches kids the skill of weapon making. He's also in charge of the camp's armory"

"Please, call me Beckendorf" He greeted himself.

"This is Lee Fletcher, head counselor for Apollo's cabin and also the archery instructor next to Chiron. He also teaches basic hunting and survival skills."

"Yo" the black haired boy coolly responded. "I can't believe you punched Sherman's blade to pieces. That was wicked" Lee was clearly impressed with his fight.

"And lastly, head of Athena cabin, top strategist and our linguistic instructor, Annabeth Chase"

However, despite the compliments paid by the guy she admired. Annabeth didn't look pleased with her arms crossed and a calculative glare plastered to her face. "Nice to meet you" although the words she said were nice, the tone in which she used conveyed the opposite. Luke chose to ignore the silent rebellion. Annabeth wasn't particularly known for accepting people on first impressions. She was even distrustful when the he brought her to camp years ago. A trait that is very much common for the children of wisdom. While children of Hermes accepts all people without discrimination, since hospitality was one of their minor specialties.

So they had the swords master, the archer, the auxiliary, the blacksmith and the rogue. That's what Luke likes to call a complete set. He was sure that Chiron would approve of his appointment and Dionysus would simply grunt in annoyance so he wasn't all that to worry about.

"Alright, guys. We have work to do and you…" he pointed to Percy. "Have some unfinished work to do I guess" He hinted to the gardening work that he Luke temporarily pulled him out of from. Percy showed nothing to indicate that he was annoyed but in his mind, even though it was a childish notion, he swore in the distant future that he might make life for wood nymphs a little bit harder. Since nymphs were such emotional creatures, it might just be easy to do.

…

"Listen to reason, Zeus!" Poseidon's voice echoed in the Olympian's council room. Dark clouds slowly gathered around the city of Olympus. The room was silent except for the bickering of two old brothers.

"The ancient laws forbids us from stealing the other god's properties"

"But our children aren't" Zeus countered.

"Are you saying my daughter did this? That I ordered her to steal your lightning bolt"

"That is what exactly I am saying Poseidon and I intend to prove it"

"You're mad! What has happened to you?"

"Now calm down" Dionysus said dully. "Maybe you just forgot where you left it?"

"This is no time for jesting, Dionysus" Zeus threatened.

"I'm not joking, you might actually be getting a little senile" he suggested to which Zeus glared at him while Hermes gave a small smirk of amusement. "Fine" he held his hands up in defeat. "Go continue your pointless argument"

"Are the both of you serious?" Hera asked with a voice that oozed out authority. "It hasn't been a century since the last war and you're planning to start another so soon. I swear you're just doing this out of spite. Look at Hades" she gestured to the god of the underworld who was watching things unravel impassively. "He seems to be the most level-headed one out of the three of you and that's saying a lot"

"I don't even want to comment" Hades responded crossly in his uncomfortably short seat.

Zeus sighed "We are being serious Hera" He looked grudgingly to the time pedestal at the end of the large council room "If your daughter does not give me my lightning bolt by the summer solstice, I promise you there will be war"

"If that is your wish brother, than I shall have to oblige" Poseidon swore with a grim look.

…

Grover Underwood was certainly having doubts about his tracking abilities. He was a satyr, a keeper even. His very job was to seek demigods to protect. Now that was easy considering he had an acute sense of smell. Satyrs were natural trackers but the only problem was that he wasn't in nature.

The smell of petroleum and Food stalls blocked his sense of smell most of the time, which forced him into only using his eyes to keep track of the demigod he was supposedly appointed to bring safely into camp. But even his eyes proved mostly useless. It was the lunch rush and people were crowded in the streets. The cars moved only inches in a long period of time. To Grover, it was nature's hell. He never did like the urban areas, but then again, no satyr ever did like the large cities. That would be same said for any other mystical creatures that inhibits forest areas.

Grover navigated through the crowd in an awkward manner, avoiding rushing business men and tourists. It wasn't actually his fault that he lost the daughter of Poseidon. She was quite short for her age, and fast. It was easy for her to fade into almost any background. Grover stopped in his tracks when he caught a glimpse of a blue cap from the crowd.

"Helena" Grover called out as he moved closer to the demigod.

Helena looked back to him and frowned at the sight of the satyr. "It's Hal. I hate it when people call me Helena."

Helena was a shorter than average girl, with a cute pudgy nose and beautiful sea - green eyes. She has short loose black hair which sometimes made people mistook her gender, but she never did seem to care if the occasional elderly came to her and addressed 'sonny' or 'boy'. Despite her petite figure and androgynous appearance, she has a very violent and aggressive attitude, a fact that was more signified by the bandage covering her cut on her chin after a fight at school.

"Helena's a beautiful name" Grover reasoned.

"It's Hal or you're sitting alone during lunch" She threatened as she continued on her way.

"Fine" he said sounding defeated. The Satyr then followed the girl on her way.

"Don't you have anything else to do than bother me Grover, I have work after this and I pretty much want to start it in a less than annoyed mood" she said as they crossed the street.

"I won't be a bother, I'll help you" He pleaded.

"I'm just counting stocks you idiot, there's nothing much you could do to help"

"Hey, what's with the name calling?"

"But it probably would be a good thing having someone else to talk to either than that old geezer." She said, completely ignoring the other's question.

Grover sighed in response. He really should try to get used to her attitude, after all it wasn't really far off from… another demigod he knew. He really shouldn't ponder about sensitive memories. Satyrs were emotional creatures, he might just shed a tear and Helena would then proceed to call him a wuss. That was something he would like to avoid.

Both of them entered a simple bakery shop. The moment they stepped inside, they we're filled with the tantalizing aroma of baking bread and other delicious condiments that made Grover drool.

"Get a tissue." Helena ordered with a disgusted voice.

"I wasn't drooling." He lied as he tried to wipe the drool off his face with his sleeve.

Helena threw her bag to the nearest table and quickly went to find the ledgers and just finish for the day without any more problems. After a hard day at school, she really didn't want to experience her uncle theatrics but unfortunately, today wasn't the day.

"Helena Jackson!" Her uncle called out, his voice making Helena wince where she was standing.

"Just great" she muttered under her breath. She turned around to see her uncle standing on the top of the stairs leading to their living area of the building.

Rick Jackson was a large bald man whose frame was more fitted in working in a blacksmith than a bakery shop. He had a thick full mustache and he always wore thick rimmed glasses. He was also a very imposing figure and that made kids that shopped with their parents for bread, scared of him.

Rick made his way down the stairs and to in front of Helena. He easily towered the girl around a half meter.

"Good evening, Mr. Jackson" Grover greeted politely without any hint of fear which Helena strike odd. Rick could have made gangs cower in fear just by standing and Grover was easily afraid. Why wasn't he afraid of her uncle?

"Evening Grover, I have some fresh baked cheese buns in the back, help yourself to them, just don't eat…" Grover was already gone inside the kitchen "–all of them" he sighed then averted his attention back to his niece. "Off with the cap" he ordered. "What are you, trying to masquerade as a boy?"

Helena was reluctant at first, but it would be best to just get on with it as quickly as possible. It was more painless that way. She pulled of her cap, revealing her facial features to her guardian. Her Uncle's eyes narrowed at her chin, and a few swollen areas on her face and a cut lip.

"What happened?" Rick inquired with his arms crossed.

"I fell" she lied simply.

"On what, Hedgehogs" Her uncle glared at her. "The truth" he wanted.

Helena sighed, "It was nothing"

"If it was nothing, then we probably wouldn't be having this conversation" He waited for awhile before his niece began to explain.

"Some kid at school threw crumpled papers at me"

"So what did you do?" His uncle asked, knowing where it was going.

"So… I threw my fist at him" She smiled innocently as if she had just made a small joke.

"You got into a fight _again _because somebody threw trash at you, and he was a guy?"

"I won" she defended herself.

"That does not make it any better, young _lady_. Girls like you shouldn't be fighting like that"

"How should I fight then?"

"I preferred if you didn't fight …at all"

"Yeah like you wouldn't have done it" she answered back.

"That's because I. Am. A. Guy."

"You're saying a woman doesn't have any rights to protect herself"

"He was throwing balls of _paper_ at you!" His uncle said sounding irritated at her niece. "And you punched him!" She was stubborn to the point where he felt like he was talking to a wall. "Your mother would have been angry with you" Oh, maybe he shouldn't have said that.

"Well she's not here is she, and neither is dad" She stated coldly picking up the ledgers from the table and started to climb up the stairs feeling pissed off.

Her uncle sighed in frustration as he watched her niece's retreating figure. Raising girls was harder than he thought. He seemed to be in deep thought for a moment then he remembered who he had allowed to go into the kitchen without supervision.

…

Helena stared blankly at the Ledgers. She couldn't find it in herself to do them now, after that conversation with his uncle. It wasn't that he hated him. He was just too… overprotective. She didn't even know if it was even the right term to use. And he brought up her parents into the conversation. It had always been a touchy subject for her, her mother Sally Jackson, died giving birth to her and her father, whom her uncle never even told his name, left her mother even before she was born. How useless of a father was he? She had seen pictures of her mother and was disappointed that she had only inherited some of her facial traits. Sally Jackson was a beautiful woman, with a warm smile and deep set eyes. She was sure that she had men practically at her doorstep.

Her father didn't deserve someone like her mom.

While her mother had visible aspect of ladylike features, Helena wasn't too fortunate in getting all of them. She only got the color of her eyes and the shape of her face. The other things seemed to bristle into less feminine characteristics, for example, her attitude. She wondered what life would have been like if her mother was alive. Maybe things wouldn't have been the same. Just …No, thinking of what it could have been wasn't her style. She looked to the future, never a fork in the past. What's done was done. The clattering sounds of feet climbing up the stairs brought her attention back onto the ledgers.

"Hey Helena" Grover called from the doorway, not daring to step into her room without her permission.

"This close Grover" Helena held up her hand as if she was pinching the air.

"Sorry" He apologized, forgetting to call her by her nickname.

"What is it?" She wasn't going to get mad. She was angry enough as it is.

"You're coming tomorrow right, to the field trip?"

She had almost forgotten about the trip to museum the next day. "Yeah, I'm coming"

"Great, I got to go back home, see you tomorrow then" He was about to move but Helena stopped him.

"I'm curious Grover"

"Yeah"

"Where do you live, by the way?" Helena asked curiously, turning her body to face Grover. "You never told me"

"W-well" Grover stuttered "You know. At the…" He theatrically looked to his wrist even though a wrist watch was absent "Would you look at the time, it's already that late. Got to go" He ran down the stairs.

She looked at the doorway suspiciously, why would Grover hide the location of his house? Either than that, Grover was probably the worst liar she had ever met. Deciding that Grover's personal life wasn't that all important to pass of as critical information to her, she looked out her small window, which didn't provide her much of a view but a stair way outside that she liked to use whenever she was bored out of her mind, and sighed deeply. She felt like she was missing something, it was like trying to find the last piece of a puzzle. She just hoped that the trip to the museum tomorrow would somehow bump her static pattern of life.

It was at that moment, that the phrase 'Be careful what you wish for' applied greatly to her situation more than she would have liked.

* * *

A/N _Yeah, this chapter was more of a filler, i'm not proud of what i had done. So how'd you like Percy's sister and yes Rick Jackson is my homage to Rick Riordan. Without him, no one would know the awesomeness of being the children of the gods. I personally like Travis and Connor, they're witty. I may make them appear more, just for spite. _

_I realized when i was writing this that, correct me if i'm wrong, t Rick doesn't have any developed Apollo, Demeter and Dionysus children in his books. So it was hard trying to figure out how write any children of said gods' interaction with each other. Or maybe i'm thinking too much about it._

_Hoped you enjoyed the chapter and be sure to review. _


	11. Pivotal Twins

_Okay, before you try to castrate me and rip me limb from limb, please if you do, this story will never end at all. _

_To everyone, i really am sorry for not updating sooner, because actually, i got bored for a while. But after seeing your reviews, it made me really happy and that i had to write. I understand if you want to leave this story because of my ass of an update time. I won't be mad... just a bit sad._

_Okay answers. Yes Helena is Percy's Twin if you hadn't caught up on that. Nobody knows that their twins, even Percy. And secondly i would like to think that Percy is fluent in Latin and English. He's like one of those people that speak so perfectly that he has no accent. If that's possible. About, the Trojan demigods (Yup, I'm calling them that. I don't like leaving characters hanging where there's so much room for development. So i'll probably be making short stories about them, because i feel it would be dull if they didn't had any background whatsoever._

_Someone told me that some of the Characters is similar to bleach. Believe me, i have never watched bleach when i was writing this. So i actually went to go and read the manga. I assume the similarities is with the Equitem and the Espada. If i'm correct. _

_I'm not going to make you guys wait anylonger. So read and Enjoy (P.s, im really sorry about the late update)_

_Densha,_

**_Being blind is only unfortunate when what you miss seeing is something beautiful._**

**_With how there's no beauty left._**

**_Being blind is fortunate._**

* * *

Percy never had an appeal in teaching others. It was just something that he didn't like to do. He had the skills for it but no patience. The only reason that he trained Erika was that because he was ordered, to which he obediently did. And the only reason he had continued training the mortal girl was he was never the person to finish things half-way. He would be sure that Erika would reach a high standard in fighting. At first, he barely tolerated on how weak and naïve the girl was. But after some time, it was pleasing and at the same time calming to watch his disciple make progress, it was like watching a garden grow. Even though he had passed his duties of training her to Wadjet, he still made it a habit to once in a while test her.

Looking back on his memories of training Erika, he never thought that anything else would be harder and more troublesome. He was wrong.

Percy's eye twitched in irritation as he looked on the beta group he was supposed to train. Luke, as temporary leader of camp, handpicked the first dozens of demigods he was supposed to train and so far he wasn't pleased with Luke's wondrous selection of able bodied campers. They were giddy, sloppy, and very well undisciplined. They took the training as if it normal school lesson. He was really considering adopting _Sun Tzu's_ style of teaching large groups of people which involves in killing at least one of them.

After they dispersed at the call for lunch, Percy sighed in frustration as he leaned back on a random tree.

"You should try a subtle approach, Percy" A voice said from above him. Calmly, he cocked his head to see Aleva's half emerged body on the tree's trunk, looking down on him with a serene look.

"How did you know I'm having trouble?" He asked half-heartedly as he leveled back his gaze. "A nymph empathy link" he suggested.

She didn't know why, but somehow hearing that made her feel warm inside. Huh, funny. "Please" she scoffed as she made to ground level. "That's a goat thing and as you can see… I'm no goat" she claimed proudly as she put her fist on her hips.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her. It was a weird feeling having someone to converse with normally outside his group. Even if said person was a wood nymph with an attitude that would surely be classified as unusual, or maybe it was the same for all the wood nymphs.

"Now about your problem, your way of teaching is a bit –"

"Efficient" Percy interjected.

"-harsh" she finished.

"Harsh?" he asked skeptically "We're demigods, it's the most dangerous life anyone can get in this world"

"That's a rather cynical perspective" she noted, as he pulled back his hood. She was curious why the demigod hid his features most of the time, surely he can't be ashamed of it. What with those alluring piercing sea green eyes, long black hair, pale –

"It's rude to stare" Percy said bringing her out of her thoughts. "You were saying?"

"Y-yeah" she stuttered. "Being a demigod maybe the most dangerous thing in the world but you shouldn't really go Spartan in the training"

"The Spartans pitted their children against each other and sometimes they fought to the death. They were thrown to the streets so they would learn to survive by themselves. They would steal and sometimes kill due to starvation." He would continue but Aleva had cut him off from explaining the brutality in more detail.

"Okay-okay, maybe I exaggerated a little bit" she said sounding appalled at his brief explanation of the brutalism of Spartan nature. "But I'm still right about what I said earlier. Thus bringing me to my second point of anti-socialism" she went on and on about what he did wrong in teaching the demigods and he was patient enough to hear what she had to say. He drowned himself in the dryad's constant chatter. When he had made his decision to come here he didn't expect that the camp was this quiet. He hadn't seen that much action since second he passed through the camp's boundary. Now that he thought about it, he really shouldn't be expecting much. They were basically oblivious that a threat of uprising was looming above them, so really he couldn't blame them if they were this lax.

It might make things easier but less… entertaining.

…

Helena tried to ignore the useless chatter inside the bus and focus entirely on the ride. But it was hard to do so considering the fact the other kids were talking like it was a damn fish market and the outside sights weren't appealing enough for her to ignore the noise. She slumped back into her chair in frustration, besides her was Grover who was looking rather agitated. If she knew it was going to be like this she would have skipped school and play truant somewhere less hectic. She smirked as she saw the guy who had bothered her yesterday. He came out with more bruises than she did in the fight yesterday and seeing his face today in that state suddenly lifted her spirits a bit. He caught Helena looking at him and immediately he averted his gaze to the bus floor.

'That showed him' she thought as the boy looked down in shame.

Helena was usually given a wide berth due to her aggressive attitude but there's usually some ballsy individual that wanted to go at the chance to tame her. Yeah, like they could do it. She was a trained martial artist, damn it. Because of her extra energy, her uncle had encouraged her to take a sport or something as long as it exerted energy, which she chose to learn self-defense. She had won tournaments before. Beating up school punks who thought they knew a thing about fighting was just a one-sided affair. Baking cakes was harder in her perspective.

The students clumped up in front of the museum as they waited for the teachers to exit the bus. Mr. Brunner was this guy around his forties with curly brown hair and a scraggly beard. And plus, he was on a motorized wheelchair, so it took a couple of minutes for him to get down from the bus. He by far was Helena's favorite teacher, considering that he's the only teacher that didn't make her feel sleepy in class, which was a miracle by itself.

The other chaperone was Mr. Dahaka, a dark broody man that taught biology. He had short ebony hair and light olive skin - Helena wondered whether the guy was of Egyptian descent. She knew for a fact that the teacher disliked all kids, making her wonder why he even took a job in a school full of children. And the next distinctive feature was his smell .She swore that every time that she walked past the guy, she would smell sulfur, it wasn't strong but it didn't need to be to be an annoyance. She could smell it from here. Haven't he heard of a shower? He was clearly due for one.

"C'mon, no slacking" he ordered as he herded the students up the stairs following Mr. Brunner. He was relatively fast for a man in a wheelchair. Not wanting to become a reason of discontent to Mr. Dahaka, Helena rushed to the entrance with Grover in tow.

Mr. Brunner led the tour. They passed large galleries, glassed exhibitions, and a few Greek potteries as Mr. Brunner gave brief history on almost each artifact they had passed. After going through a few galleries, they passed a large stone writing on the wall. Her gaze lingered on it for a while before the writings on it seemed to shift.

She blinked in confusion then rubbed her eyes and waited for the blurriness to disperse before trying to look at it again. Nothing changed. The writing on the wall still looked the same, just lines of writings in foreign language. It was at this moment that she had realized that she was all alone. Great, now she had to go and find them.

Before she even took a single step, a sleek voiced echoed through the exhibit.

"Putting up wards really is enduring." She spun around at the source of the voice to see, Mr. Dahaka, looking bored as he usually do and brushing his hands together as if he had just picked up something dirty. "This better be worth it"

"Mr. Dahaka" She called out sounding confused at what he was talking about.

He groaned hearing what she had called him. "I hate that name. I should have picked something more dignified than that horrid name"

"What are you talking about?" Helena asked as she grew more confused. She knew that the biology teacher was nutty but not this cuckoo.

"Never mind that" he waved it off, annoyance in the way he moved his hand. He stopped walking in front of her and held his pale palm out. "The master bolt, now"

"What?" she asked again as she took a cautious step back, her awareness training starting to kick in. Something's wrong, really wrong with her teacher.

Mr. Dahaka clenched his fist and ground his unreasonable pearly white teeth. "I swear demigod, if you're trying to play dumb, I will send you to the underworld before you past your prime"

Helena watched in unveiled shock as Mr. Dahaka's clothes began to shift slowly, as if it was a living entity. His brown blazer changed into a black over coat, his salmon tie turned into dark shade of red, and his beige trousers turned to the same color as his ebony coat. The only thing that remained the same was his white buttoned shirt.

Helena turned to run but she only managed to distance herself from her teacher before a black blob appeared from the ground in front her and morphed itself in the shape of a tall person. He looked like an exact copy of Mr. Dahaka. It had the same clothes and the same pale skin. Only this one was wearing black tinted glasses and had longer hair and the presence of a Tommy gun. Talk about outdated.

Helena turned around to find the only other way out was blocked by Mr. Dahaka and the appearance of two other people, each wearing the same identical clothes as Mr. Dahaka and each carrying Tommy guns.

"You almost let this one escape, _Ceuthonymus_" the one wearing glasses stated, his voice deep and calloused. "That would not have been a pleasant endeavor"

"Shut up" Mr. Dahaka countered harshly. "What's important is that the girl is here and she will make our master a king."

Glasses didn't say anything in return. Everything really wasn't making sense for Helena. Who the hell were these guys and what the hell did they want with her?

"Now, let's make it easier for all of us, demigod. Give us the lightning bolt and we'll kill you painlessly"

Gods, why are they so thick headed? "L-look, I really don't have what you guys are searching for"

Mr. Dahaka's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Kill her"

"W-wait, why you guys don't kidnap me" Helena really didn't know where this was going. She was just trying to stall until someone -anyone- came.

"Tell me. In what world would that be a good decision in my part?"

"You guys are trying to find this lightning bolt, right? Then you could bring me to your headquarters and interrogate me. I'm sure whoever your boss is would give you recognition for being persistent"

Mr. Dahaka scoffed at the idea. "We'll kill you and then interrogate your soul before it reaches the underworld, even though it's against death etiquette. Besides, no one will know" he gave a sinister grin.

Helena didn't know what that had meant, but she understood enough to know she was dead.

She didn't move. The shock and confusion were crammed so much into her head that it didn't left any space for her to react properly. She couldn't even bring herself to close her eyes and shield herself from her unfortunate demise. In the middle of the chaotic turmoil that raged within her young mind, one coherent thought made it through. Her uncle was going to kill her for not arriving home before curfew.

She waited for the trigger, but before anything could happen, a large blur of blue and green crashed through a section of the wall and slammed into Mr. Dahaka, sending him far into the end of the corridor and into a glass exhibition full of precious and fragile artifacts. The museum officials weren't going to appreciate that.

The two other lackeys were the next to go as the large figure slammed them both into the wall. The ground behind Helena rumbled and jets of water broke through the floor and hosed glasses away from her and straight through the ceiling.

Helena stood unmoving as the sounds of water leaking from the broken pipes filled the silence. She was too caught in the familiar large figure that she didn't even consider the fact that a large portion of the corridor had been trashed and it would cost thousands to repair the damage.

It was when the large figure turned around that she recognized him.

"Uncle Rick?" she asked. The way she asked didn't have the tone of desperation and petrifaction that she had earlier. It was pure raw confusion that engulfed her tone. She was expecting some sort of response from her armor clad uncle, any kind actually. But she didn't expect the words to come.

"You forgot your lunch money" he stated deadpan.

She didn't know whether to kick her uncle in the shins or give him a big hug… well, she did want to kick him more than hug. But, even she understood the urgency of the situation, even if she didn't understand the situation itself. It took her a few moments to realize that her uncle had said something to her.

"What?"

"We need to go, now!" Her uncle ordered, his tone sounding a bit desperate. For some reason, her uncle sounded different. Maybe it was the whole situation making her mind a little bit askew. But she could have sworn that his voice sounded blurry all of a sudden, as if he was speaking underwater. Before she could ask anything relevant, she was suddenly picked up by her uncle and was thrown over his right shoulder without any grace.

"Hold on" he told her. It was at this time that she noticed her uncle's new distinctive feature.

"Your ears, they're fins!" she noted.

"No they're not"

In a blink of an eye, both disappeared leaving mist and the faint smell of the ocean to linger in the air.

Amidst the glass shards and rubble, Darius pulled himself out, his face etched with deathly malice. More shadows formed into men wearing black overcoats around his imposing figure.

"Get the girl" He growled, his voice no longer sounding sleek as it did earlier. "Kill the sea-dweller"

With a collection of silent nods, they disappeared, leaving the half-destroyed section of the museum empty.

…

"Who the hell are they?" Helena questioned, as they navigated through the urban maze with speed so fast that time seemed to stop around them. Although, his uncle was doing the strenuous act of leaping over cars and from building to building, he was somehow able to form a coherent response without panting.

"Hades' underground Mafia" he answered as he skidded and turned a sharp left.

"Who's Hades? Are we in debt or something?"

"Not exactly… he isn't a normal person"

Helena's eye twitched. "Of course he isn't normal!" she shouted at him "What normal person leads a Mafia cult?"

"Well you know those Greek stories I told you about when you were younger" Rick began to explain.

"Yeah" she answered skeptically, not knowing why it was at all relevant.

"The Hades that I'm talking about is from those stories"

It took her a couple of moments to get that information stuffed in her already overworked brain. She blinked once.

"What?" she jerked so much that she almost fell of her uncle's shoulder.

"Don't move so much unless you want to fall"

Noting her uncle's obvious warning, a slight feeling made her look behind over her shoulder.

There were dozens of them, she didn't actually know what they were, but they traced sharply on the surface of buildings and roads like moving shadows. They were fast, and they were gaining on them.

"Uhh… can you go any faster?" she poked her uncle.

Already knowing the reason that was causing Helena's distress, he made a cut into a park. Helena watched in trepidation as he uncle whizzed closer and closer to a lake. She braced herself for a sudden shower only to see her uncle running across the lake… with no trouble at all. She wasn't going to even to try and act shock anymore.

Helena couldn't hear what her uncle was muttering about as they surged through the lake, it sounded like some sort of incantation. For what, she wasn't too sure. The answer, however, came immediately as five humanoid shapes formed from the water, each holding a different type of weapon in their semi-solid hands. They stood, creating a wall between the shadows and them.

"They should be able hold them off for now" He said as they moved farther away from his summons of liquid golems. His tone however suggested that it won't be enough time.

…

They ran… however, Helena wasn't sure that what his uncle did was considered running, but as long as they were putting distance between them and danger, she didn't care what the method was.

"What the hell do they want?" She asked, taking advantage of the momentary peace.

Her uncle stayed silent for a while before answering, "They were after Zeus's lightning bolt?"

"Lightning bolt?"

"Yes, his sign of his domain, one of the most dangerous weapons made on earth"

"How did it even go missing in the first place?"

"It was stolen, by whom, it's still a mystery"

"Wow" she exclaimed, feeling astonished. "Something as big and dangerous as that could actually be stolen. You can literally steal anything here"

"Let's save the witty comments for later on" Her uncle replied.

"But" she continued, "How did I end up being the suspect?" she said sounding annoyed at the fact. "If what you say is true and this isn't some weird dream I'm having after eating something stale from the fridge, I've only known about all of this less than an hour ago" she groaned in frustration, wishing she just had normal school girl problems.

"Yeah, Zeus isn't actually thinking rationally during these times" Thunder rumbled above them as he said that. "He's in a really bad mood" he whispered.

"Why are you whispering?"

"Nothing" he answered back regaining his normal tone.

"Wait, if Zeus thinks that I stole his precious toy. Then why is Hades after me"

"Hades isn't actually after you. The ones that are hunting us down are one of Hades' groups of overzealous followers called the _Cacodaemones_, though they sometimes call themselves Hades' mafia. The only thing similar with them and real mafia is only the way they dress and the guns they carry"

"Yeah, I was actually wondering about that" she uttered out honestly.

"They think that they'll get on Hades' good side if they present the master bolt to him"

"But they won't right?" she asked hopefully.

He shook his head "Although Hades didn't order this, he will not pass the opportunity to usurp Zeus and gain the throne of Olympus for himself" he stated sounding dreadful.

"What about the other Olympians, you told me they were thirteen of them, right?" she asked, curiosity etched on her scared face.

Rick was honestly about to answer, but something blocked the path in front of them. The first thing that hit their senses was the horrid smell that, like the smell of sweat and fur meshed together. The smell made Helena pinch her nose shut. She had to struggle in her current position to see what had caused her uncle to stop abruptly in the middle of the road. It took Helena a couple of moments to comprehend what she was seeing.

Five blurry silhouettes of men, larger than her uncle, stood in front of them. She had never met anyone larger than her uncle, which was saying a lot considering that her uncle had larger than average body proportions. The air was dangerously still as her uncle breathed slowly and analyzed his targets. It was when his uncle placed her on the ground that she realized that the men in front of them all had the head of a beast: An Alligator, a wolf, a bull, a hog and an elephant. All standing up with bodies of built men, clad in light leather armor and each carrying different heavy weapons.

Her uncle kneeled down so that he could look at her eye to eye.

"I want you to listen to me, okay" Her uncle tried to sound confident, but the look on his eyes says otherwise. Helena nodded grudgingly as affirmation that she was all ears.

"I need you to run up that hill" he pointed to the one behind the five beastly headed men. "-as fast as you can, without stopping, can you do that?" His voice sounded oddly reaffirming even though the situation had just taken another turn for the worst.

"You're not going to do anything stupid are you?" she asked, sincerely worried about her uncle.

"No" he simply answered. What he was going to do was extremely stupid, but he wasn't going to tell her that.

Unfortunately, the half-beast didn't posses the decency to wait for the conversation to be over before trying to attack the both of them. In a blink of an eye, Rick caught the one with the wolf head by the neck, and threw him a couple of meters to the side, not before prying the weapon from out of its grip for his own use.

"Go now!" her uncle shouted as he kept her hunters busy. Helena wasted no time following her uncle's orders. The wolf picked itself from the ground and snarled in Rick's direction, obviously angry after being manhandled, and then gave a loud and shrill howl before catching sight of Helena running away from the fight.

Rick backpedaled as he avoided another swing of the spiked mace coming from the hog. He twisted his body as he sensed another danger from behind. Using his bracers, he blocked an incoming impact from a halberd. Though, it saved him from behind cut from behind, the impact to his right arm still hurt. He pulled himself away before the axe head could fully cut through the thick armor. He leaped to the sides, and ducked down below a horizontal swing of a double-ended axe. Using his legs, he swept the alligator beast off its feet causing it to fall backwards. Before its body could fully reach the ground, he took hold on one of its legs, and despite his smaller stature, threw the half-beast at another, ending it with a grunt of satisfaction.

The elephant swung his weapon from his side, hoping to catch him off his guard and aiming to break Rick's head into tiny bits. Rick, being the faster of the two, blocked the incoming attack with his own weapon. He struggled against the force of the larger monster, breathing heavily as he tried to think his way out of this losing battle, before he saw the wolf giving chase to his niece. His eye widen in terror and his heart quickened, panic slowly engulfing his mind. The push of the elephant grew stronger on him, and he almost lost his grip.

Cursing at the situation, he mustered all the strength he had and kicked the elephant man at the ribs with a thrust that was sure to damage some vitals.

He screamed when he felt cold metal cutting through deep behind his right calf. He felt something kicked behind the damaged leg, forcing him to kneel. He felt calloused hands and sharp claws taking hold of his head and yanked him to the ground. The alligator beast forced Rick's head to the hard ground, making sure he was completely incapacitated.

Helena heard the sound of the wolf howling and the sounds of metal clashing with each other as she stumbled up the hill. The feeling of dread kept her running at full speed between the tall lush trees. She briefly caught sight of a tall pine tree before she heard her uncle cry out in pain from behind. Feeling worried, she slowed down her pace and against her better judgment, turned around.

It was a bad mistake.

Before she'd even realize it, a muscled hand had pinned her on a nearby tree by the neck, impact making her teeth clatter. Thankfully, it didn't felt like anything was broken except maybe the tree. Her sea-green eyes stared into the eyes of another, more feral ones and that was filled with an animalistic desire to hunt and also to kill.

The wolf pulled his clawed hand back, getting ready to rip Helena's head off. Closing her eyes tight, she braced herself. Only that it didn't. The hand was still on her throat, what had stopped it? Not that she wasn't grateful or anything. She reluctantly opened her eyes to see an arrow had done the deed. The wolf, confused at first, pulled the offending object out of its shoulder and then both of then looked to where the arrow was shot from.

A boy stood readying his bow besides two others, a girl and another boy. Hope filled inside Helena as the boy released another arrow and it whizzed through the air and dug itself into the hand pinning her down. It growled menacingly as its hold on her. The other two darted to the front at the raging half beast, from different sides, and weapon in hand. Before the beast could do anything, one had sliced one of its legs off, and the other had jumped and stabbed it in the shoulder. The wolf gave one last roar, and then dispersed into sands of gold.

It only took a moment for her to register that the beast had turned into yellow powder.

"Are you alright?" one of the boys asked and he kneeled in front of her.

She was about to answer then she remembered that her uncle was still in a predicament. She wasted no time darting off to her uncle.

"Hey!" the boy shouted, firmly gripping her hand. "Where are you going?"

"My uncle's in trouble" she explained briefly. The boy looked to his other friends and they each gave him a slight nod. The boy released his hold on her then the three of them followed her downhill.

The sight that greeted her made her want to sob out. Her uncle was on the ground and she couldn't see his face. At first she had expected the worst, but the slight movement of his chest filled her with a bit of relief. The only problem now was trying to get her uncle away from trouble. She looked to the other kids, hoping that with their experience that they had devised some plan to save her uncle. But even they look perturbed, thinking how in Hades that this girl had attracted not one but five hallmark monsters, four of whom were still alive and kicking.

It wasn't a moment later that more guests arrived forming themselves from shadows.

Ceuthonymus stood, with visible tears on his coat, besides other men who were in the same state. His gaze was deadly as he looked on the small group of demigods. Oh, he could easily kill them and then be done with it. But the only problem was that he can't.

Killing the daughter of the sea god alone was the only kill that he could possibly endure, but if he killed other demigods, their parents might hold that grudge against his master. No, he didn't want to put the other Olympians against Hades, especially in the dawn of a possible war.

No, he couldn't…but he did have one thing left. He had a hostage.

He looked to the sea servant on the ground, injured but still alive, and then to Helena.

"Bring the bolt to Lord Hades" he said, "And you may well see your uncle _Alive _again"

"But I don't have it!" she shouted at him, holding back tears.

He however didn't do anything in reply, instead, his small army left like shadows being ripped apart, leaving nothing behind, even her uncle.

Helena fell on her knees, disbelieving eyes staring to where her uncle had gone. The three helpers exchanged looks of understanding with one another, knowing that being out of the camp's boundaries was already bad enough.

Helena just kept staring, even as they got her up to her feet and helped her cross the camp borders. She just kept staring…

Up on one of the trees, a lone figure perched on one of the branches went unseen as he surveyed the previous battle. His hidden face fixed on the new demigod, but not with interest or pity. It was a cold calculative glare, a glare that was kept on her until she had passed into the safety of the camp.

With nothing else, Percy stood up then simply disappeared.

…

After being treated for her minor injuries and a few bland words of sympathy, they left her to her own devices, feeling that she should be left on her own after what had happened. But she herself didn't know what to do. Should she cry? No, she never cried. She did however feel pathetic, she couldn't do anything to save her uncle, and even now she was stuck on a bed with nothing to do but watch the beautifully insulting view of the camp. She clenched her fist, _how useless._ No, she shook the thoughts out of her head. She wasn't one to sit and dwell, she needed to think of a way to save her uncle from the underworld, even if it sounded on the fringe of insanity. It wasn't impossible, other people had done it, albeit legendary people, but still… she had to do something.

"Still have a lot of energy, I see" a voice said in front of her. Looking up, made her forget what she was about to do - just for a bit. A handsome boy with dirty blond hair was walking towards her, followed by a younger girl with long blond hair. "I'm really sorry your _unfortunate_ arrival here, it was really luck that someone heard the commotion. We should really schedule a patrol system around here" He muttered the last one to himself. 'Might even save lives'

Shaking out of her trance, "What do you want?" Helena rudely asked. His only reply was to smile at her while the blond girl besides her looked like she was about to pounce on her.

"My name's Luke Castellan, acting head of camp, and this here is Annabeth" he placed a hand on top of her head. She might have looked annoyed if it wasn't for the light blush that appeared on her face.

Helena narrowed her eyes, slightly irritated that he chose to ignore her question. "Helena" she reluctantly gave her name to the two strangers. "Where am I?" she asked as she gave another look around. The place was decent enough, but she wasn't going to judge the place by its appearance. For all she knew, this could be some kind of place where they teach people to handle dogs - or something equally ridiculous.

"Well, this is camp half-blood" he answered.

"Let me guess, it's a place for people like me" Helena half-heartedly said.

Luke's eyes seemed to widen a fraction, while Annabeth only looked at her suspiciously - well, more suspiciously than earlier.

"You seemed to be informative about this" Annabeth said to her.

"Hit it right at the head didn't I?" She said, not bothering to look at her. A tick appeared on Annabeth's head; she really was starting to dislike the new girl.

Oblivious to the tension, as most men would in his situation, Luke continued "Yup, you're right. But please don't say 'people like me', it feels like we're mental patients". Helena looked up at him that said 'Is there a difference?'Luke, however, ignored the glare directed at him. "Usually, Chiron or Mr. D would explain these things to you but since both aren't here at the moment, Annabeth and me would have to do" he rubbed his hands "Okay, since you already got some of the blanks filled, why don't you tell us what happened and we'll see if we can fill all the other blanks".

Normally, Helena wouldn't even give a damn, but her desire to know what happened to her uncle got the best of her and she told them the entire story. Both blonds absorbed the story, nodding occasionally and telling her to go on. After they finished, both of them looked at each other in silence. _So this was the demigod that Chiron was looking after_, Annabeth thought.

"Well, firstly" Annabeth began "We might think you're really deep in trouble"

"Gee, you think" Helena said sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm trying to help you here" Annabeth reprimanded.

"Then, don't say something that I already know"

"Aright - alright" Luke broke the fight apart before it got worse. This was camp half-blood; it was really not unusual to see a fight to the death break out just because of a few verbal abuses. "It looks like these _Cacodaemones_ really were hell-bent in believing you had the master bolt."

"And not only them" a new voice suddenly added. Helena looked to see a middle age man, with slightly curly hair and was wearing a tiger patterned shirt. One of his hands stuffed inside his pocket as they walked towards them with a bored expression. "My old man seems to be adamant that you -" she looked to Helena before continuing "- have stolen his precious weapon, senile old bastard." He muttered the end of the sentence.

He then looked to Luke and Annabeth "I trust you haven't told her anything that isn't supposed to be told?" He asked firmly.

"No" was only Luke's reply.

"Good" He walked off. However before going farther he stopped in his tracks "Oh, before I forget. Welcome to camp Half-Blood, and at the moment, the only safe place for you now" then he continued walking.

A momentary silence passed before Luke spoke again, somehow the tone in his voice changed slightly "How about a tour of the camp before settling down?" Helena didn't protest. It was far better than just sitting there doing nothing. So he stood up, and followed Luke and Annabeth.

…

A frightful growl filled the empty corridors of Hades's underworld palace. Usually any other guttural sounds could be dismissed since it was the underworld, but this growl came from its king.

Hades, his eyes like cold fire burning, stared into the eyes of his subordinate. His hand firmly gripped on his _Ceuthonymus_'s as the leader of the _cacodemons _clawed on the hand of his master, struggling to breath.

"I could easily break your neck" Hades stated without emotion. "A simple snap, then poof" Ceuthonymus's eyes were filled with panic and dread. "Tell me, what idiocy caused you to try to kidnap my niece?"

Of course, with a hand strangling his neck, Ceuthonymus could only manage to get out choked replies. Hades released him. He fell to the ground, breathing heavily as he rubbed his neck.

"I…" he began "-was trying to get the master bolt from her"

"And did you?" Hades looked down on his pathetic form.

"No…" he looked down in disgrace. "I accept any punishment that you deem fit for me"

"I don't want to waste my time anymore than I already have. Get out of my sight, and make sure I never see you again"

He remained silent "What of the prisoner?"

"Leave him with me. I feel this 'problem' will surely fix itself" Hades then waved him off.

Ceuthonymus bowed, and then disappeared all together, leaving Hades alone to his thoughts. 'Now to see what the fates have in store for him'.

…

So far, Helena didn't like where her first day was going. People kept staring at her whenever she walked by (as if the camp didn't have weirder things to look at than her). Luke and Annabeth did however, introduced her to some of the campers that she really had to know. It was hard however to do that considering she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.

They told her about the cabin systems, and even explained to her that she would be staying in cabin eleven, which was most of the time overcrowded, especially during summer time, which was just around the block…Great.

Stopping in front of the Hermes cabin, Luke turned around to face her. "Well, I guess that's it then" Helena was slightly relieved that the tour was over. She just wanted to be alone now. "You can roam around the camp, I guess. Until Chiron comes back"

"Chiron?" she asked.

"You'll meet him later" Annabeth promptly answered "But I'm sure you've already met him."

"Huh?"

Annabeth then walked off, without explaining what she had meant and muttering something under her breath.

"I really don't like her" Helena stated as she walked further away.

Luke chuckled lightly, "Don't worry about her, she just takes time to get used to… a lot of time actually"

Helena only frowned "So, what now?" she asked.

"Now" he said, as if the question was amusing to him. "It's two hours till dinner, I guess _now,_ there's nothing to do"

She thought about it for a while. "Do you have a training ground?"

"We have a number of them, which one would you prefer?"

"Something to make me lose all this tension"

Luke gave a distracting grin. "I think I know where"

…

Luke led her to an empty plain ground area. A couple of marbled pillars stood erect above the ground, probably to indicate where the training boundaries ended. Within the columns were a couple of hacked up dummies and a simple weapon stand. Nearing closer, she could see a couple of other kids, sparing unarmed with each other and some practicing some basic stances. It oddly reminded her of her old dojo where she used to go for her martial arts training.

"This is where we usually train for unarmed combat, though I'll say this is a relatively new one and it's actually growing popular." He explained.

"New?"

"Yeah, we found an instructor just a week ago. Let's go meet him" For some reason, Luke sounded a bit jovial. As they stopped at the edge of the training, no one seemed to take a notice on them, probably fully absorbed in their training to realize they had visitors. "There he is" he gestured to the instructor. He was actually hard to miss, considering he was the only one not wearing the bright orange t-shirt that everyone seemed to be wearing. Not only that, his hood was pulled over his head, so you can't actually see his head.

"He seems fun" Helena said, as she watched him critically as he took some light punches on a dummy. Luke's only reply was to smile.

"His name's Percy. I never caught his last name though. And he's really tough"

Helena continued to watch, somewhat feeling entranced. Without even realizing, she started walking up to him.

"Hey" Luke called out, "What're you doing?"

"Seeing if he's really tough"

…

Percy sighed as he felt something bad about to happen. It may be a feeling, but over the years he learned it was better to actually trust his instincts, especially the bad ones. He turned his head slightly when he noticed that some had stopped not too far besides him, probably wanted to see him training. Seeing no harm being done, he just continued to let the person watch as long as she didn't bother him.

"Your stance is wrong".

One of his punches stopped midway as he heard what she had said. "What?" he asked, his voice betraying no emotion.

The arena had gone quiet and Helena realized that everyone there had stopped to stare at her as if she had just said the most ridiculous thing in the world. Luke however looked a bit amused at the proceedings.

"Your stance is wrong" she repeated as she looked back at him.

Percy almost grinned. 'This girl actually is trying to correct my stance, how cute' Percy turned around to face her, he was more or less a head taller than her and the hood did a good job in making him look intimidating. "Didn't it occur to you that this may be a personal style?"

"Really, because your feet work look a little bit weird" she said without a care.

"Was that an insult?"

"Nope, just an observation" she replied as she stretched her arms and legs. 'This girl is really blunt, almost reminds me of someone' Percy thought.

"What are you doing?" he asked as he watched her doing squats.

"I'm warming up to fight you" she said simply. Percy just kept looking at her then turned back to the dummy.

"Go before you really get hurt, I have no intentions in fighting you"

"Hey!" the girl shouted sounding annoyed "Don't you disregard me like that" Percy, of course, chose to ignore her.

In a state of slight anger, Helena leaped in front with her right arm pulled back and punched at him only for it to be caught in his grip. Helena then tried to kick him with his left leg and it was also caught.

Percy released his grip altogether with a light push, causing Helena to backpedal a few inches back so that she could regain her stance.

"If you want to fight, then make sure to bring out your all" Percy told her as he readied his stance. "But I assure you, you won't land a single hit on me"

Helena actually smiled a little, "If I do" she replied as she readied herself.

"Then you win"

Luke had to admit that things had gone interesting, there was even a crowd forming to see the fight. 'I better stop this before it gets out of hand' he thought as he looked on to the two fighters 'maybe give them a couple of minutes'

Helena wasted no time waiting, sending a fury of fist and swift kicks …that seemed to do actually nothing to the boy. He just simply slapped the punches away and dodged the more heavy attacks. Helena wasn't stupid enough to not know when her opponent was holding back, and it irritated her to know that the boy was not even breaking a sweat at her best. She had to give it to him, he was actually pretty good.

She kicked high to his face which was easily blocked by Percy's arms. Without batting an eye, Percy took grip on her ankle, spun her around and threw her away from him. Helena flew a couple of meters back and fortunately managed to land on her feet. This was getting annoying; she hadn't even managed to even land a hit on him.

Blowing a stray strand of hair from her, she ran to him. Percy, unperturbed by the action, stood motionless as he watched her attack him with renewed vigor. Percy however couldn't help but feel a little bit impressed, if that was somehow possible. By mortal's standard, she was actually pretty good. She knew her weakness and chose to compensate it with agility and speed.

Percy readied, wanting to end this so he could head back to his own business. As she got in his range, he punched her, but, to his surprise, it didn't connect. He watched as the girl, ducked down his arm while grinning, and then she thrust her own fist up to his unprotected jaw.

The crowd that had gathered to see was silent, only speaking with each other in hushed tones and shocked that the girl had actually managed to get a hit. Both fighters remained unmoving.

"Hurts, doesn't it" Percy said.

Helena's surprise was evident in her wide eyes. 'The hell' she cursed as she watched her arm starting to tremble. The pain… was something she didn't expect, it felt like she had punched metal, it hurt like hell. Percy, seeing his opponent still motionless, grabbed hold of her arm.

She winced in pain, trying to get out of his grip, but in doing that, the pain got worse. The only thing he could do now was just hope that he won't do anything to her hand. He then promptly pressed on it, causing a grunt of pain to escape from her, and then he released the hand.

She took hold of her own hand and checked on the healthy red swelling of her fingers. "But…" she looked to Percy "I won right".

He didn't say anything at first until, "Yes" Percy paused, slightly amused "Yes you did"

…

Luke watched the interaction between the Percy and Helena and found it somewhat amusing and impressive at the same time. While Percy was resilient as always, he actually underestimated the girl. She would have given Luke a run for his money. Luke kept on watching, even when he heard the clopping of hooves nearing besides him. He didn't need to turn his head to know who it was.

"Any good reason that you didn't try to stop them" Chiron asked, his voice not sounding angry, only a bit of concern.

"She needed to blow some steam off" Luke explained.

Chiron nodded understandingly, accepting the reason as good as any other. Chiron was always fond of the son of Hermes; he was a very astute and observant boy, seeing details that most people won't, and was very able in reading people's emotions. It wasn't a wonder that many looked up to him as a leader.

"How was New York?" Luke asked.

"Dangerous… as always" Chiron answered. "I trust that she has been informed"

"Yeah…except her parentage. She's very confused now and she told us she lost her uncle"

"I see" Chiron cursed himself; he should have just brought the girl earlier. He knew who her uncle was and he was a very noble and loyal man. He was sad to hear what had happened to him. But seeing that he couldn't do anything about it now, he chose not to dwell on the fact. Instead, he clopped forward.

The crowd, who saw the activities director coming, bowed gently and made way for the centaur. Helena, who just saw Chiron had a surprised look, which was really getting overused for the day, mouthed 'Mr. Brunner?'

"Helena Jackson" Chiron called out "It's good to see you nice and well. I'm sure Luke has already familiarized you with the camp. I am sorry that I couldn't be here upon your arrival. If you have any questions at all, feel free to ask anytime"

"You're a horse" was what she only said.

"Centaur, to be exact" he corrected. The age old centaur then turned to the hooded boy. "So you're our unarmed specialist. An honorable trade, I must say. There hasn't been any demigod that chose to fight unarmed in a very long time, prompting to use the more shiny toys, I suppose"

"I'm only doing what I can" Percy replied. This was the first time he had met with the legendary trainer and he wasn't sure what he felt of him. But one thing was for sure, the boy respected him for his experience and vast wisdom that carried with it, which was more than he could say for the Olympians.

"And for that, I thank you" Chiron bowed lightly. He then turned to address the crowd which was still there.

"Campers!" he bellowed. "Dinner is almost ready, go freshen up before eating" At that, the campers began to disperse. "Come Helena, we need to look at that hand of yours, and Grover's been worried about you".

"Grover's here?" she asked, sounding surprised.

"Yes my child, and to prevent any further surprises, I'll tell you now that he is a satyr"

"That actually makes a lot of sense" she muttered under her breath as he followed besides the Centaur, carefully cradling her arm.

Percy watched the retreating figure of the centaur carefully before picking up a fallen sword from the ground (probably left behind by some forgetful demigod) and placed it on one of the stands.

"She was pretty good, wasn't she?" Luke said from behind. "I got to say I was impressed"

"More training and she would be astounding" he admitted.

"Yeah, c'mon let's go to the mess hall before the seats are taken" Luke said.

"I…" he paused as he felt his head throb "-have something to do first" he stated as he held his head. "I'll go there later"

"Suit yourself, don't say I didn't warn you" he said as he began walking towards the mess hall. He then stopped and looked back. His face darkened considerably, his eyes lost its playfulness and became cold and calculative. The change was so significant that if some else had saw it, they would have thought he was another person.

Percy was already gone.

Regaining his normal visage, he continued walking as if nothing had happened.

…

* * *

Ceuthonymus - a mysterious Daimon (Spirit) of the Underworld.

Cacodaemones (Kakodaimones)- Evil spirits which issued forth from the underworld to cause harm.

A/N: I'm sorry if the chapter is not up to standards or confusing. I really hope it isn't. I was really rushing because i really wanted to update this chapter. Review!


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